Minimum wage breach: John Lewis and One Stop among 200 firms to underpay workers

The government has today revealed that nearly 200 businesses have broken national minimum wage law across the last decade.

Investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have discovered that £2.1m of unpaid wages were owed to employees for work between 2011 and 2018.

The breaches occurred across 191 businesses, affecting 34,000 workers, who have now received the previously unpaid wages.

The companies included national employers such as John Lewis, which underpaid more than 19,000 workers, McColls, which underpaid more than 4,366 workers and One Stop, which underpaid 2,631 workers.

Other companies involved included The Body Shop, Welcome Break, Sword Security, Pret A Manger and Bloomsbury Publishing. The full list can be found here.

Companies who breached the minimum wage were also fined a total of £3.2m.

The investigation showed that 47 per cent of the companies involved wrongly deducted pay from workers’ wages for uniforms and expenses, 30 per cent did not pay worker for all hours they had worked - including overtime - and 19 per cent paid the incorrect wage for apprenticeships.

Paul Scully, business minister, commented: “Our minimum wage laws are there to ensure a fair day’s work gets a fair day’s pay – it is unacceptable for any company to come up short.

“All employers, including those on this list, need to pay workers properly.

“This government will continue to protect workers’ rights vigilantly, and employers that short-change workers won’t get off lightly.”

Bryan Sanderson, chair of the Low Pay Commission said: “These are very difficult times for all workers, particularly those on low pay who are often undertaking critical tasks in a variety of key sectors including care.

“The minimum wage provides a crucial level of support and compliance is essential for the benefit of both the recipients and our society as a whole.”

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