TAX officials have “named and shamed” companies who blatantly defy the law by paying workers less than the statutory minimum wage.

The 139 named companies were investigated between 2016 and 2018 and found to have failed to pay £6.7 million to over 95,000 workers.

Hotels, garages, hairdressers, a nail salon, car wash and shops were among those paying their workers less than the statutory minimum wage.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) accused employers of a “completely unacceptable breach of employment law.”

The companies range from small operations with just one employee to firms such as Tesco — Britain’s biggest supermarket chain.

A Tesco spokesman apologised for “a technical issue” in 2017 that meant some workers’ pay “inadvertently fell below the national minimum wage.”

Some have underpaid individual employees by thousands of pounds, according to BEIS.

The report says that one of the main causes of minimum wage breaches was low-paid employees being made to cover work costs, such as paying for their work uniforms, and for training or parking fees.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey called low pay “a scourge” in Britain.

He said: “It's good to see that robbing employers are being shamed, deservedly, again but it would be far better to make stealing unappealing in the first place.

“Too many bad bosses get away with it. The rogues don’t fear the inspector’s knock at the door. 

“They probably think, with justification, that they have more chance of winning the lottery than being caught for their crimes.”

He called for more inspectors and for trade unions to carry out on the spot payroll inspections to ensure workers are taking home what they are owed.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Everyone deserves a wage they can live on. 

“It’s a national scandal that so many workers — many of whom are key workers — aren’t being paid minimum wage.

“Employers who cheat their staff out of the minimum wage will rightly face hefty financial penalties. 

“But many of those who fail to pay their workers the minimum wage won’t be named today. 

“The government raised the threshold for naming employers compared with the old scheme, meaning fewer bad bosses are exposed.

“Rogue employers must not be let off the hook. Government must right this wrong and ensure that all those who are shortchanging their staff are named and shamed.”