Three employers in Kent which failed to pay their workers the minimum wage have been named and shamed by the government.

The firms are part of a list of 115 companies which owed staff more than £389,000, spanning hairdressing, retail, education, catering and social care.

The worst offender in the county was Manston Riding Centre, near Ramsgate, which neglected to pay a worker £4,142.83.

Tides Leisure & Indoor Tennis Centre in Deal was also forced to stump up £1,619.95 it owed to a member of staff paid below the minimum wage, which rose to £6.70 at the beginning of the month.

Bosses said a visit by HMRC in May last year identified one employee had been underpaid out of 500 due to an administrative error "which was corrected immediately".

Deputy managing director Kevin Fordham said: "Your Leisure is a responsible employer with a clear grading and payment structure in place.

"In this case regrettably the employee affected appears to have ‘fallen through the system’ following a merger in April 2013 between Vista Leisure and Thanet Leisureforce, to form Your Leisure."

Plumbing and heating business Cannon Services in Aylesford was also censured after it failed to pay £871.03 to a former apprentice, whose wages should have increased after he had worked for a year.

“Employers that fail to pay the minimum wage hurt the living standards of the lowest paid and their families..." - Business Minister Nick Boles

Finance director Khayyan Pervaiz said: “When the apprentice had been with us for one year, both sides forgot to increase his pay until after he was fired from the company.

“Then it was investigated and we paid him the amount straight away once we realised our mistake.”

Staff from Manston Riding Centre and Tides Leisure & Indoor Tennis Centre were unavailable for comment.

The worst offender nationally was Accessorize, owned by Monsoon, which neglected to pay £104,507.83 to 1,438 workers.

Business Minister Nick Boles said: “Employers that fail to pay the minimum wage hurt the living standards of the lowest paid and their families.

“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.

“Next April we will introduce a new national living wage which will mean a £900-a-year pay rise for someone working full time on the minimum wage and we will enforce this equally robustly.”

The current national minimum wage is £6.70 an hour for ages 21 and over, £5.30 an hour for 18 to 20s, £3.87 for 16 to 17s and £3.30 for apprentices aged 16 to 18 or in their first year if aged 19 and over.