Mitie to face HMRC talks over minimum wage allegations

13th May 2015 12:51

Outsourcing services group Mitie has been called up by the HMRC to answer allegations the company has not been paying care worker staff the UK minimum wage in England and Wales.A number of employees of Mitie's MiHomecare business, one of the country's largest providers of home care, had told Corporate Watch, an investigative organisation working with the BBC on this story, that employees in Devon and Surrey were not paid the minimum wage.This followed earlier allegations published by the BBC that MiHomecare was not paying the minimum wage to home care workers in two Welsh branches.The FTSE 250 company's chief executive, Ruby McGregor-Smith, will this week meet senior HMRC officials, according to the BBC.Evidence shown to Corporate Watch suggested Mitie was not paying staff for the time it takes to travel between clients and that they were being encouraged to cut visits short.Responding to the claims, MiHomecare said: "The quality of the care that we provide and the safety and dignity of our customers is our highest priority."The company added that it was working "on an individual basis" with staff who had raised concerns.