Rentokil staff unpaid after error

Rentokil has apologised to affected workers

Thousands of cleaners working for pest control group Rentokil Initial have been left unpaid for their work following a computer glitch.

Because of a "transmission" error salary transfers were not completed on Friday, leaving many staff out of pocket ahead of the weekend.

However, Rentokil Initial has assured staff that money will reach their bank accounts on Tuesday.

In the meantime, it said emergency funds would be available to workers.

"If any employee encounters problems they can contact their Rentokil Initial UK Cleaning branch where limited emergency funds will be available," the company said in a statement.

The 16,000 workers involved are paid fortnightly.

A spokesman for the GMB union said: "We will be assessing the cost of this failure to our members in terms of bank charges and we are hopeful that Rentokil will pay them all."