A COUPLE who were made OBEs in the New Year Honours List are directors of a hairdressing business which failed to pay workers the minimum wage, according to an investigation by HMRC.

Alan and Linda Stewart were made Officers of the Order of the British Empire. Their Rainbow Room hairdressers in Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square failed to pay £851.70 to six workers between 2016 and 2018.

The couple founded Rainbow Room International, which has 12 salons around Glasgow and the west of Scotland. The salon’s website describes the owners as a “formidable force in the hairdressing industry”, adding: “As well as building Scotland’s largest salon group, they have maintained the business’s high standards and reputation for hairdressing excellence.”

The investigation also found Clare McFarlane and Suzanne McGill, who were trading as Rainbow Room International, South Lanarkshire, failed to pay £1,304.77 to 16 workers.

Rainbow Room (East Kilbride) Limited, South Lanarkshire G74, failed to pay £2,378.77 to 15 workers. William Fleeson, trading as Rainbow Room International, Stirling, failed to pay £2,089.66 to 11 workers. A Rainbow Room spokeswoman declined to comment. Another 12 businesses, including Pizza Hut and St Johnstone Football Club, were among those named by the UK Government. Pizza Hut in Edinburgh was the worst culprit, according to HMRC, having paid 10,980 workers a total of £845,936.41 below the minimum wage.

St Johnstone owed £14,266.74 to 28 workers. All the named companies were served a notice of underpayment between September 2016 and July 2018. They were ordered to pay back the wage arrears at the current rate, as well as facing fines of up to 200% of money owed, capped at £10,000 per worker.

The UK Government’s Business Minister Paul Scully said naming employers for failing to pay the minimum wage should be a “wake-up call” to rogue bosses.

The “naming and shaming” scheme has been resumed after two-year pause and found that 139 UK companies investigated between 2016 and 2018 failed to pay £6.7 million to more than 95,000 workers across the UK.

Scully said: “Paying the minimum wage is not optional, it is the law. It is never acceptable for any employer to shortchange their workers. This should serve as a wake-up call to named employers and a reminder to everyone of the importance of paying workers what they are legally entitled to.”

READ MORE: These 10 Scottish businesses have been named and shamed for unpaid tax

THE Government said one of the main causes of minimum wage breaches was low-paid employees being made to cover work costs, such as paying for uniform, training or parking fees. Other employers also failed to raise employees’ pay after they had a birthday which should have moved them into a different National Minimum Wage bracket.

The current minimum hourly rate is £8.72 for over-25s, £8.20 for workers between 21 and 24, £6.45 for those aged between 18 and 20 and £4.55 for under-18s.

The minimum wage for apprentices is £4.15 per hour.

The full list of Scottish companies named for failing to pay the minimum wage was: Pizza Hut (UK) Limited, City of Edinburgh, failed to pay £845,936.41 to 10,980 workers; St Johnstone Football Club Limited (The), Perth and Kinross, failed to pay £14,266.74 to 28 workers;Dakota Forth Bridge Limited, Dissolved 20/03/2020; City of Edinburgh, failed to pay £10,236.50 to four workers; WKW Partnership Limited, trading as Cairngorm Hotel, Highland, failed to pay £4,057.00 to seven workers; Malcolm Gilmour and David Gilmour, trading as Gilmour Bros, South Lanarkshire, failed to pay £2,446.58 to three workers.

Rainbow Room (East Kilbride) Limited, South Lanarkshire, failed to pay £2,378.77 to 15 workers; William Fleeson, trading as Rainbow Room International, Stirling, failed to pay £2,089.66 to 11 workers; D&D Decorators Limited, East Ayrshire, failed to pay £2,080.35 to one worker; Keasim Glasgow Limited, trading as Malones Glasgow, Glasgow City, failed to pay £1,503.43 to one worker.

The Roxburghe Hotel Edinburgh Limited, City of Edinburgh, failed to pay £1,317.43 to 47 workers; Clare McFarlane and Suzanne McGill, trading as Rainbow Room International, South Lanarkshire, failed to pay £1,304.77 to 16 workers; Oakminster Healthcare Limited, trading as Cumbrae House Care Home, Glasgow City, failed to pay £1,292.30 to 21 workers; Mohammed Nasir, trading as Omar Khayyam, City of Edinburgh, failed to pay £935.31 to two workers.

About Face Beauty Clinic Limited, Glasgow City G74, failed to pay £924.51 to six workers; Rainbow Room (24 Royal Exchange Square) Limited, Glasgow City, failed to pay £851.70 to six workers.