BOSSES of a Barrow hotel have spoken of their devastation after an investigation revealed they had failed to pay some members of staff the minimum wage.

On Friday, the government released details of 92 employers across the UK who had failed to pay staff the National Minimum Wage.

One of the firms identified was Abbey House Hotel in Barrow, which the government said had underpaid 13 members of staff a total of £13,000 over a two-year period dating back to 2012.

But bosses of Abbey House Hotel have said the underpayments had been a genuine mistake.

Although he only took over as general manager of the hotel two years later, John Horton said he was personally devastated.

Explaining how the company came to fall foul of the rules by helping an employee to finance a deposit and rent for a house, Mr Horton said Abbey House Hotel had acted “with the best of intentions”.


John Horton He said: “We had paid the employee’s rent directly from their salary to a third-party landlord which resulted in their take-home pay to fall beneath the National Minimum Wage threshold.

“This tenancy agreement would not have been possible otherwise. We did this with the best of intentions to help an unworkable situation for that person otherwise.”

The other employees who were underpaid had been given time off in lieu for working extra shifts when the hotel was busy. However, when those individuals then agreed to work additional hours, this meant that their overall salary fell below the minimum wage.

“I sincerely hope that the Barrow community understands that this mistake was without malice and certainly not intentional,” Mr Horton added.

Barbara McMullan, 31, has worked at the hotel for almost nine years. The married mum-of-one approached the Evening Mail to defend her bosses after seeing the response on social media. 

She said: "I absolutely love working here, we have a brilliant team. 

"John is a real family man, the sort of boss who would do anything for you. My husband was in hospital for five years over Christmas and Abbey House couldn't have done more for me."

The Evening Mail understands the investigation was a 'spot check' and was not as a result of any complaints made by employees. A number of staff members affected by the underpayments are still employed at the hotel.

Mr Horton believes other employers across the industry may have unwittingly made similar mistakes and urged other hoteliers to check their pay processes.

He added: “I like to think Abbey House Hotel is a pillar of the community and the way in which we have been portrayed is personally devastating.”