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Bosses failing to pay the minimum wage are escaping being ‘named and shamed’ – by claiming angry workers will attack them.

Ministers are bowing to pleas from rogue employers to keep their names secret, allowing them to exploit a loophole that they face ‘a risk of personal harm’.

A Government source defended the policy, saying: “There is a risk that people will threaten them, or attack them – or go to their homes.”

But the secrecy was condemned by Kevin Brennan , Labour’s trade spokesman, who said: “This seems an extraordinary excuse.

"Why are these employers who fail to pay the legal minimum wage given special treatment when others who break the law are not?

“The public should be told who these firms are - until that is done there will inevitably be concerns about why the Government names some and not others.”

It comes despite ministers promising to publicly identify employers who fail to pay the minimum wage to show that breaking the law has ‘consequences for their reputation as well as their wallets’.

Read more:Corner shops 'will hike prices' to cover higher minimum wage

The Department for Innovation, Business and Skills (BIS) has now admitted it agreed not to name 22 employers – almost one in five of those who pleaded for their identities to be kept secret.

A statement from the department said it “received 107 representations from employers asking not to be named. Of these 107 employers 85 were ultimately named”.

The names were kept under wraps either because of ‘a risk of personal harm’ or because of ‘national security risks’, officials say.

There was no mention of the 22 when ministers boasted, in February, that scores of bosses were being named and shamed for owing low-paid staff more than £1.8million.

(Image: WENN)

Business minister Nick Boles said: “There is no excuse for not paying staff the wages they’re entitled to.

"Our policy of naming and shaming employers who ignore the law means there are consequences for their reputation as well as their wallets.”

A BIS spokesman refused to say how many off the 22 secret rogue employers had begged not to be named on the grounds of personal safety.

He said: “The criteria are that it would not be in the public interest, it would be a national security issue, or that the employer or their family would suffer personal harm.”

In a recent Commons debate, Mr Boles also suggested many bosses begged not to be named because they were terrified of the bad publicity.

He told MPs: “Honourable Members should see some of the letters I receive from employers trying to persuade me to exclude them from a naming and shaming round.

:They take it very seriously indeed, as they do not want their customers and suppliers - and indeed their neighbours - to know that they have broken the law.”