HMRC names & shames Alcaline and Shepherd Neame, among others, for NOT paying minimum-wage

Kent’s latest “name and shame” list from HM Revenue & Customs reads like a roll call of penny-pinching employers who failed to pay legal minimum rates. The current minimum wage is £12.21 an hour (though it was lower during the underpayment periods). Most of the breaches disclosed here relate to arrears that accrued no later than 2022, reflecting the time HMRC investigations and enforcement take to conclude.

Two local Kent names stands out on HMRC’s national list:  Shepherd Neame Ltd (the brewer) underpaid 942 workers £18686; and Alcaline UK Ltd based at Lympne Industrial Estate and who transport and store goods underpaid 3 workers, £1,898, according to the department’s most recent release.

What HMRC List Actually Means

Being named by HMRC doesn’t just mean public embarrassment. Employers must repay all arrears to every affected worker and can face penalties of up to 200% of those arrears. HMRC’s lists regularly show the same patterns: not counting all working time, deducting for uniforms or training, and paying the wrong apprentice rate.

Money And Influence: Political Donations Linked To Named Employers

Alcaline UK Limited—whose Kent base is in Hythe—made two Conservative Party-linked donations in recent years:

• £10,000 to the Conservative and Unionist Party on 30 October 2024, recorded on the Electoral Commission’s register (Donation ID C0590418).

• £3,000 in support of Damian Collins’s 2019 General Election campaign, registered on the House of Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests on 9 January 2020. 

Why it matters: when businesses caught underpaying staff are also political donors, it raises legitimate questions for readers about priorities and accountability—especially in a cost-of-living squeeze.

Directors Pay: What’s Publicly Disclosed For These Companies

Alcaline UK Ltd

Who’s in charge? Companies House shows Lorenzo Zaccheo (pictured right)as the active director.

What did the director get paid? The Companies House Group Accounts show a clear, rising trend in the “Director’s remuneration” line over three consecutive years:

• 2018: £121,399.

• 2019: £125,771 (disclosed comparatively in the 2020 accounts).

• 2020: £127,395.

These figures are single-line totals for director remuneration as presented in the statutory accounts; they cover salary and any other amounts included within that heading in the company’s reporting basis, but they aren’t broken down further in the filed statements.

PJ (Spar) Ltd (10064591)

Who’s in charge? PJ (SPAR) Ltd is the Folkestone convenience store operator at 125 Black Bull Road, CT19 5NU. (Company overview and officers are listed on Companies House.) 

What did the directors get paid? PJ (SPAR) Ltd files as a micro-company; micro-entity accounts often do not include a separate directors’ remuneration note, so recent filings do not state a specific figure. Readers should note this is a legal reporting minimum for small firms, but it also limits transparency.

Shepherd Neame 

Shepherd Neame’s Chief Executive, Jonathan Neame, (pictured) has led the company since 2003—a matter of public record on the company’s own site and other corporate profiles. 

In 2019, his remuneration was well into six figures—comfortably “over £100,000”. (The company’s remuneration disclosures and mainstream investor profiles show CEO pay at six-figure levels.) 

Why include this? Shepherd Neame appears on HMRC naming lists in some national rounds and is one of Kent’s best-known employers; readers deserve context on executive-pay scales locally, even where the legal breaches may be historic or relate to complex payroll errors.

What Underpayments Look Like On The Ground

For the lay reader, here’s how easy it is for a legal breach to occur:

• Not counting all hours: Cleaning before opening or cashing up after closing still counts as paid time.

• Uniform deductions: Requiring staff to buy specific clothing (even “plain black trousers”) can push effective pay below the legal floor if not reimbursed.

• Wrong rate: Apprentices and different age bands change annually; getting the rate wrong is a common error. When HMRC checks, it recalculates pay period by period, forces full arrears repayment, and levies penalties.

Accountability Starts At The Top

It’s reasonable for the public to ask why businesses that can afford sizable political donations—or that pay six-figure sums at board level—cannot get the basics right for frontline staff. Directors are responsible for lawful pay. Where directors’ remuneration is rising year-on-year (as at Alcaline), or where disclosure is minimal (as at micro-entities), the reputational stakes are higher still.

What Happens Next & What Workers Can Do

• If you’re underpaid: Keep payslips and rotas; calculate your hours; contact ACAS for advice.

• If you’re an employer: Audit your payroll now. Correct any errors voluntarily—before HMRC knocks—by back-paying staff and documenting fixes.

• For readers: Political donations are a matter of public record; the Electoral Commission and Parliament’s Register let anyone check who gave what, and when.

Conclusion

This isn’t a saga of “technicalities”—it’s a test of values. If a business can fund campaigns and reward the board, it can meet the legal floor for the people who unlock the doors, stock the shelves, and keep the place running. So here’s the bar Kent should now expect:

1. Board-level ownership: treat wage-law compliance like safety—zero tolerance, quarterly assurance to investors and staff, and clawbacks on executive pay for breaches.

2. A plain-English pay promise: pay for every minute worked; no deductions that drag pay below the legal rate; automatic birthday uplifts; arrears fixed within 14 days when errors surface.

3. Transparent audits: publish an independent payroll review this year and next—district by district—so communities can see progress without spin.

4. Political hygiene: parties should freeze or return donations from any named employer until an independent auditor signs off full remediation.

5. Sharper enforcement: where HMRC finds repeat failures, penalties should escalate and naming should be immediate, not years later.

Kent doesn’t need grand gestures; it needs clean payslips, prompt back pay, and leadership that treats lawful wages as non-negotiable. Pay people properly—not after you’re caught, but because it’s right.

The Shepway Vox Team

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