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Big Four accountancy firm KPMG, luxury department store Harvey Nichols and well-known retail brands and football clubs are among 400 employers found to have paid workers less than the UK’s statutory minimum wage.
The government said it was acting on a commitment in the November Budget to “name and shame” employers caught breaking labour market rules more frequently, as it seeks to step up its enforcement of newly strengthened workers’ rights.
The Department for Business and Trade said the employers concerned had repaid more than £7.3mn to around 60,000 workers, with fines of £12.6mn also issued to 389 employers.
Football clubs Norwich City and Charlton Athletic were among those named, alongside high street chain Costa, breadmaker Hovis and Walsall Council. Harvey Nichols was named as having failed to pay £7,537 to 83 workers. These companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Publicly listed companies named by the government included units of Danish facilities management group ISS, which said it had made “unintentional errors” in calculating paid time between 2017 and 2023 that have since been corrected.
The accountancy firm KPMG said it was included on the list because of “a very small number of process errors” affecting 59 employees, which it had spotted and corrected after notifying HM Revenue & Customs in 2022.
Travel agent Hays Travel also said it had “rectified” a technical issue as soon as it became aware of it, while health insurer Bupa said it had corrected mistakes “relating to items such as uniforms, footwear and accommodation” after being notified by HMRC in 2019.
Breaches of minimum wage rules by big companies tend to affect a large number of staff but involve relatively small sums of money.
Many of the employers named, however, are small businesses where a few individuals have suffered much bigger losses. Problems are especially prevalent among businesses such as care homes and childcare providers but the list also includes builders, farms, hotels, caterers and garment manufacturers.
Business groups have long argued that the UK’s enforcement bodies do not have the resources needed to police labour market rules.
The worry is that rogue employers will sidestep new workers’ rights flowing from the government’s Employment Rights Act, which are set to add to cost pressures in low-paid sectors that have already been hit by sharp increases in payroll taxes and minimum wage rates.
The national living wage — the minimum wage for adults aged 21 and over — has risen by a third since 2021, from £8.91 an hour to the current level of £12.21 and is to increase by a further 4.1 per cent to £12.71 in April.
A new Fair Work Agency, bringing together existing enforcement agencies into a single body with a broader remit, will begin operations next month in response to concerns raised over poor compliance, although employers and unions note that it has not been backed by any significant increase in funding.