Over 200 employers named and shamed for paying below minimum wage

Waterstones and Matalan stores are among 208 businesses named by the government this week for not paying minimum wage to employees between 2014 and 2019.

Around 12,000 people across the UK have been affected by the underpayments, which have resulted in £1.2 million in unpaid work.

Despite a significant increase in the number of firms paying the Real Living Wage this year, this is the case.

Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: “It is really disappointing to see that over 200 firms are responsible for failing to pay the legal minimum to over 12,000 UK workers, especially at a time when rising living costs are putting an extra squeeze on households.

“In contrast, we have seen record numbers of employers signing up to pay the real Living Wage, going further than the minimum wage to provide security and stability to their staff.

“These employers recognise that even in these hard times, an investment in people is an investment in business.”

Employees at large, medium, and small companies have all been impacted, however the ways in which they were underpaid differed.

Work-related deductions, such as needing to pay to follow a dress code, undercut the minimum wage in the majority of cases (37 percent).

Three out of ten employers (29%) failed to pay employees for mandatory training, trial shifts, or travel time, 16 percent failed to pay apprentices correctly, and 11 percent paid the incorrect minimum wage rate, either failing to account for government national minimum wage increases or not paying people the correct amount based on age.

Businesses that underpaid workers have since had to pay the wages owed and face fines of up to 200% of what they had to pay back.

The full list of employers found paying below the minimum wage was published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy here.