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THE DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS AND TRADE HAS 'NAMED AND SHAMED' 500 COMPANIES WHO HAVE BEEN SHORT-CHANGING THEIR STAFF. 10:12, 31 May 2025 Supermarket giant Lidl, along with Pizza

Express and British Airways, are amongst 500 companies that have been revealed to have failed to pay their staff the minimum wage. The full list contains many well known companies, as well

as sole traders and small businesses. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has "named and shamed" hundreds of companies for short-changing their staff and failing to provide

the minimum wage. From HMRC'S investigation, it was revealed that between 2015 and 2022, 60,000 workers were illegally underpaid by companies. Altogether, over £7.4million has been

repaid to these workers, reports the Mirror. A spokesperson from the department has said that due to investigations now being complete and all back-payments agreed, the full list of

companies was allowed to be published. Every employer on the 500 long list has since been forced to repay workers what they were owed. As a result, many have faced financial penalties of up

to 200 per cent of the underpayment. At the top of the list was Capita, which is one of the Government's biggest suppliers. They ended up owing a whopping £1.15million to 5,543 workers.

This means that individual members of staff were on average underpaid around £208. Article continues below Capita has since said that it was "inadvertent underpayments" between

2015 and 2021. This was due to some issues, including adding 25 minutes per week for call centre staff to log in for their shifts. They added: "All owed monies were paid immediately,

and we are sorry for any impact this had on colleagues and former colleagues at that time." Restaurant chain Pizza Express failed to pay £760,702 to 8,470 workers - on average around

£90 per worker. A spokesperson has said: "Once we were made aware of this historic unintentional technicality, which occurred between 2012 and 2018, we swiftly identified who was

impacted, apologised and rectified. "There’s nothing more important to us than fairly and accurately paying our team members." Another well known brand on the list was British

Airways, which failed to pay £231,276 to 2,165 workers. The airline company said that an audit in 2017 revealed that "we had accidentally, slightly underpaid some of our cabin crew who

joined us between 2014 and 2017 during their first two months of employment. "We apologised and issued backdated payments several years ago." Supermarket chain Lidl was seen to

underpay 3,423 workers on average £83.68, while Halfords underpaid 4,341 members of staff by £32.44 each. A spokesperson for Halfords said: “The rates that we pay our colleagues are

competitive and are at or above the minimum wage. However, in 2021 we found some historical work-related costs that should have been met by us as the employer rather than our colleagues.

"We moved quickly to identify those impacted in order to make the necessary payments. All of the costs involved are now met by the company." The highest average underpayment was

recorded by Virtual Marketing Services (Gibraltar) Ltd, who owed £11,665.43 to each of its 41 employees. Justin Madders, minister for employment rights, said: "There is no excuse for

employers to undercut their workers, and we will continue to name companies who break the law and don’t pay their employees what they are owed. "Ensuring workers have the support they

need and making sure they receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work is a key commitment in our Plan for Change. This will put more money in working people’s pockets, helping

to boost productivity and ending low pay." JOIN THE DAILY RECORD WHATSAPP COMMUNITY! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.

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While there are several different wages in the UK, the main two are the Government's National Living Wage and the Minimum Wage. It is against the law for businesses to pay any less than

these rates as they are a mandatory requirement. The National Living Wage is an "obligatory" minimum wage that businesses pay workers in the UK aged 21 and over for each hour they

work. As of April 1 this year, the National Living Wage is £12.21 an hour. For those under 21, businesses need to stand by the National Minimum Wage rate, which is split into two

categories. For 18, 19 and 20-year-olds, the rate now sits at £10 an hour. For 16 and 17-year-olds, the pay rate is £7.55. Article continues below By using the Government's online

calculator, you can see if you have been underpaid by your employer. It is a criminal offence for employers if they do not pay the correct minimum and living wage rates.