Nearly 500 firms named for minimum wage shortfalls, £10.2m in fines

Nearly 500 employers have been named by the Department for Business and Trade for failing to pay some staff the legal minimum wage, with fines totaling about £10.2 million announced on October 17. The department identified 491 firms whose pay practices over several years left workers underpaid, and said roughly 42,000 people have since been reimbursed.

Fuel retailer EG Group accounted for the largest single total of arrears in the latest review, the DBT said, owing £824,384 to 3,317 workers for shortfalls identified in an investigation covering 2018 to 2023. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, was listed among the top cases, with underpayments of £167,815 to 356 employees. High street retailers Go Outdoors and Holland Barrett were also included, with Go Outdoors owing about £240,106 to 2,058 workers and Holland Barrett £153,079 to 2,551 staff. The department said the identified shortfalls related to failures to meet either the national minimum wage or the national living wage, the latter applying to workers aged 21 and over.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the government’s programme aims to ensure employers comply with wage rules. "Every worker deserves a fair day's pay for a...