UK’s best known retailers top list of firms fined £7m over pay breaches

WH Smith attributed its mis-payments to 17,607 workers to ‘a genuine error’ and said it had since reimbursed those affected. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Some of the UK’s best known retailers including WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Argos and LloydsPharmacy are at the head of a list of more than 200 companies collectively fined £7m for failing to pay the legal minimum wage.

The businesses were also forced to pay out £4.9m to about 63,000 workers left out of pocket after violations of the rules were uncovered by inspectors at HMRC, varying from breaches related to asking workers to pay for aspects of their uniform to paying the incorrect apprenticeship rate.