UNCERTAINTY surrounds the payment of workers at a family-run meat firm near Oxford.

The boss of Field Farm Fresh in Appleton apologised for paying staff late in a letter to workers last month.

But last night one worker claimed there were still problems with pay.

Earlier this month, the Oxford Mail reported claims that employees had not had any wages for two months.

Boss David Morgan told us they had been paid in full and blamed a computer error for the delay.

Since then he has not returned any calls from the Oxford Mail.

But a worker, who did not want to be named, last night claimed some employees had still not been paid what they were owed.

The worker said he was still owed more than £1,200 – a month’s wages – and added many other employees were in a similar position.

He said: “It is a terrible ongoing situation.

“I don’t have a life at the moment. You come home and think ‘it’s jacket potatoes and beans again’.

“We are scraping to buy a loaf of bread or put fuel in the car.

“If they can’t pay up they should lock the gates so we can at least go on benefits.

“It’s not fair to expect people to work and not know if or when they are going to get paid.

“There are people here who are 50 and 60 years old who have never had bank problems in their life and now they are getting red letters through the door.”

In a letter to staff on February 22, only recently obtained by the Oxford Mail, Mr Morgan apologised for paying workers late, claiming the business had lost some of its savings.

In the letter, Mr Morgan claimed his inability to pay his staff was not his fault.

He said he was taking High Court action against the firm’s previous bankers, Barclays.

Last night Barclays said they were not aware of any proceedings bought by Mr Morgan or his family and denied all the assertions in Mr Morgan’s letter.

The Oxford Mail was unable to find any record of a case in the High Court.

Mr Morgan also said in the letter that the “easy option” would have been to make compulsory redundancies at the Appleton business.

But he wrote that instead he had negotiated a deal which would see workers paid on time.

In the letter, sent to the firm’s 30-40 workers, he said: “Because we are a family business and we value our staff and the work they do for us we didn’t take the option for us which would have meant you losing your jobs by means of compulsive redundancy.”

Mr Morgan also said he had been ill for four months which made running the business difficult.

He admitted staff had been paid late “for several months”.

He added: “Please rest assured we are working around the clock to rectify this unsatisfactory situation and restore the correct level of working capital to Field Farm Fresh Ltd in order for the company to thrive and give a top class service to its customers and staff as it used to.”