More than 500 employers, including British Airways, Pizza Express, and Capita, have been named by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage, with over 60,000 workers receiving back pay totalling £7.4 million following HMRC investigations.
The Department for Business and Trade published a list of offenders, which also included Lidl and Halfords. The investigations, conducted between 2015 and 2022, have recently concluded with all back-payments agreed.
Capita, a major government contractor, was the worst offender, failing to pay £1.5 million to 5,543 workers. The company attributed the underpayments to "inadvertent" issues, including adding 25 minutes per week for call centre staff to log in for shifts. All owed monies were paid immediately, and processes were updated to prevent recurrence.
Pizza Express failed to pay £760,702 to 8,470 workers, averaging about £90 each. A spokesperson described it as a "historic unintentional technicality" that occurred between 2012 and 2018, which was swiftly rectified. British Airways underpaid £231,276 to 2,165 workers, attributed to an audit in 2017 that revealed accidental underpayments to cabin crew during their first two months of employment.
Halfords also featured on the list, with a spokesperson stating that historical work-related costs should have been met by the company rather than employees. Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, called for vigorous investigation of minimum wage breaches, describing wage theft as harmful to workers, families, and the economy.
