Oldham pub boss forced to apologise for 'deeply embarrassing' error after 'named and shamed' by HMRC
'We pride ourselves on being a good employer'
The boss of an Oldham pub has been forced to apologise for a ‘deeply embarrassing’ payroll error after being 'named and shamed' by HMRC.
The White Hart pub, on Stockport Road in Lydgate, has been run by owner Charles Brierley for more than 30 years. Since buying the freehold of the 18th-century pub in 1994, he has extensively renovated and extended the venue, which dates back to 1788.
His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) recently unveiled a list of more than 500 employers and businesses which had underpaid workers between 2015 and 2022. It found the White Hart pub had been in breach of National Minimum Wage regulations and had failed to pay 33 employees properly during a period of just a little over 12 months.
HMRC found that the pub owed a combined total of £4,324.94 to the 33 employees between January 1, 2015, and January 31, 2016. It is also the second time the venue had been found to be in breach of payroll regulations - having been found to have also failed to pay a small number of employees the correct wage back in 2011.
In a statement published on the White Hart's social media accounts, owner Charles described the mistakes as ‘deeply embarrassing’ and publicly apologised to the affected employees after being 'named and shamed' by HMRC. He said that the ‘shortfall in pay’ was paid as soon as he was notified of the error.
In communication with the Manchester Evening News, Charles said the National Minimum Wage shortfalls referenced by the HMRC relate to a technicality that affected 30 employees involving uniform costs and tax liabilities. In addition, he said there had been a payroll software mistake affecting the wages of a further three employees, and had since enforced additional audit processes as a result.
Speaking of the initial 2011 error, Charles said: “This was deeply embarrassing to me at the time, as we pride ourselves on being a good employer. As a consequence of this breach, I instructed the company accountants to monitor our payroll on a weekly basis to ensure no such breach would happen again.”
Regarding the recent HMRC list relating to filings between 2015 and 2022, he added: “I would like to publicly apologise to all these employees for this failure. The shortfall in pay was paid as soon as we were notified.”
In the statement, Charles also added that, after concluding their most recent audit, that HMRC found that the pub - which has a combined annual payroll in excess of £1,400,000 - was now paying employees at least the national minimum wage.
Charles commented: “We now process our payroll in-house and it was with great relief when HMRC concluded, in February 2025, after an exhaustive in depth audit, that we have a clean bill of health.”
518 employers and businesses were named by HMRC at the end of May for having collectively left around 60,000 workers out of pocket by a combined total of more than £7.4 million.
HMRC said that all affected workers have since been paid back, with the employees named for failing to pay the National Living and National Minimum Wage also facing financial penalties of up to 200% of their underpayment.
Justin Madders, the Minister for Employment Rights, said: “There is no excuse for employers to undercut their workers, and we will continue to name companies who break the law and don’t pay their employees what they are owed.
“Ensuring workers have the support they need and making sure they receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work is a key commitment in our Plan for Change. This will put more money in working people’s pockets, helping to boost productivity and ending low pay.”