A mum claims she is £3,000 out of pocket just before Christmas because her employer failed to pay her.

Tara Drysdale was delighted to secure a job as a peer mentor with North Ayrshire Community Youth Work (NACYW) shortly after completing a psychology degree. Tara, 37, signed her contract in September after working for NACYW on a sessional basis for several months. But she claims she has yet to receive a penny of the £37k annual salary and that NACYW’s management – Andrew and Stacy Millan and Tony Adams – have been uncontactable. The allegations come after the Herald’s report that Adams denied accusations of swindling employees and a local charity.

Tara said: “The council suspended their let at the Argyle Community Centre. I’ve not been paid since September. If it wasn’t for my family, my wee girl would be having no Christmas. I would have been in dire straits.

“Why would you morally go and do that to somebody? To give me absolutely nothing at Christmas is absolutely disgusting.”

Tara also accused NACYW of failing to provide proper PVG checks – an allegation which was also made by an ex-employee in the Herald’s previous report.

Tara said: “These people have no morals – they could have put me in serious trouble, caused me significant damage. I don’t know how damaging this has been to my career. I’m worried I’ll be tarred with the same brush.”

The Herald tried to contact NACYW, but all the numbers were either unobtainable or rang out. We traced Tony Adams and Stacy Millan at home and put Tara’s claims to them. Adams responded: “She needs to get in touch with Andrew. He’s the chairman, I’m just a worker. If you email Andrew, we’ll send you the evidence why she wasn’t paid.”

Andrew Millan later claimed that Tara had “failed to submit a time sheet by the deadline for payment”.

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “We do not comment on personnel matters relating to individuals.”