More than 650 businesses, including B&Q, Five Guys and Serco, have been named by the government for failing to pay some of their employees the minimum wage. The 658 employers on the list have repaid a total of about £4m to more than 27,000 workers.
The Department for Business & Trade published the list on 3 September and said the repayments followed “robust” enforcement action. Ministers said penalties totalling £7m had been issued to employers found not to be paying the legal minimum.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said: “Short-changing your staff isn’t a shortcut to success and we are determined to stamp it out.”
Kate Dearden, minister for the future of work, said: “Underpaying your staff is illegal, and we will not let workers foot the bill for their boss failing to follow the rules.”
The government said it was committed to publishing naming lists more regularly so that employers were swiftly held to account and made improvements as quickly as possible. A previous naming round covered 239 employers who underpaid 22,400 workers a total of £1.44m.
B&Q tops the list
B&Q, the DIY retailer, was at the top of the list after failing to pay 4,530 workers correctly, owing them a total of £456,934. The company said the shortfalls in payments were “unintentional” and “related to calculations involving geographical allowances which are paid in addition to minimum hourly rates”. The affected employees were paid in full in July 2025, the company said.
Elysium Healthcare Holdings 3 Limited was second on the government’s list, owing £330,048 to 1,095 workers. St George’s, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group owed £123,331 to 75 workers, while Support Staff Services Limited owed £119,715 to 323 workers and Forest Holidays owed £100,308 to 598 workers.
Five Guys, the burger chain, was named for underpaying almost 3,700 of its workers a total of £54,642. “Following an HMRC review, technical differences in how payroll regulations were applied affected our national minimum wage calculations, resulting in a shortfall of approximately £55,000 across a payroll of more than £330 million,” the company said. It added that it had paid all current and former staff affected.
Serco underpaid 374 staff a total of £36,303. A spokesman for the outsourcer, which provides services to asylum hotels, defence programmes, hospitals, schools, offices and prisons, said the shortfall came from a technical error that affected one contract more than two years ago and related to salary sacrifice schemes. “It was quickly rectified once identified and all employees were reimbursed in full,” Serco said.
Whitbread, the owner of the Premier Inn hotel chain, appeared on the list after failing to pay 342 employees a total of £4,193. The FTSE 100 company said the shortfall was caused by an administrative error which has since been rectified.
Rates rose in April
The minimum wage, known as the national living wage for those aged 21 and over, was introduced more than 20 years ago. The rate for over-21s rose to £12.71 an hour on 1 April 2026, with the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds increasing to £10.85 and the rate for under-18s and apprentices set at £8.00. The rates change on 1 April every year, according to the government.
