A FAILED care home has been named and shamed by the government for not paying its staff the minimum wage.

Spring Lodge in Madeira Avenue, Worthing, closed in December after a Care Quality Commission inspection deemed it inadequate.

Now an investigation by Revenue and Customs has named and shamed the home, which was run by Holly Spring Limited, as one of hundreds of employers across the UK who failed to pay the statutory rate.

Almost 300 employers have been named since 2013, with total arrears of almost £800,000 and penalties of more than £325,000.

Many of those identified owed money to a handful of workers, with the sums involved ranging from £100 for one employee at the Joomla Balti House in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, to £12,700 to two workers at Lime Tree Holiday Park in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Other businesses were in sectors such as fashion, publishing, hospitality, automotive, social care and retail.

Business Minister Nick Boles said: “As a one nation government on the side of working people we are determined that everyone who is entitled to the national minimum wage receives it.

“When the new national living wage is introduced next April we will enforce robustly. This means that the hard-working people of the UK will get the pay rise they deserve.”

From October the adult statutory rate will increase by 20p, rising from £6.50 to £6.70 an hour.