Sunita Somvanshi
Thousands of workers across the UK are getting money back — money they were legally owed but never received. The government has now named nearly 660 employers found to have paid workers below the National Minimum Wage, and around £4 million has been recovered and returned to approximately 27,000 workers.
The announcement came on September 3, making this one of the most recent enforcement actions on UK pay law.
Scotland accounts for a portion of those employers — around 50 Scottish businesses were included in the national list. But the story is bigger than Scotland. The employer list covers firms from across the UK, across a wide range of industries.
What do these violations actually look like? In many cases, employers didn’t reduce hourly pay directly. Instead, violations came through deductions that workers often didn’t realise were affecting their legal minimum. Common examples include requiring employees to buy uniforms without accounting for that cost, leaving workers effectively earning below the minimum once the deduction is factored in. Unpaid training time — where workers were expected to complete training off the clock — was another pattern. Some employers also misapplied apprentice pay rates, paying the lower apprentice rate to workers who didn’t legally qualify for it.
Enforcement has also changed structure. The Fair Work Agency launched in April 2026, bringing enforcement of key employment rights together in one place.
The current statutory minimum wage rates, in effect from April 2026, are: workers aged 21 and over earn at least £12.71 per hour, those aged 18 to 20 earn at least £10.85, workers under 18 earn at least £8, and apprentices receive at least £8.
If you think your pay may have been short, checking your payslips against these rates is the starting point. Deductions for things like uniforms or mandatory equipment can bring effective hourly pay below the legal minimum. Workers can contact Acas for guidance on minimum wage entitlement and file a confidential report with HMRC if they believe they’ve been underpaid.
