Over 600 UK firms named for underpaying staff below minimum wage

In early September, the United Kingdom's newly formed Fair Work Agency publicly named 658 employers — from household retail giants to NHS trusts — for paying workers below the legal minimum wage, returning £4 million in back pay and levying £7 million in penalties. The action marks the agency's first formal naming round since its creation under new employment rights legislation, and signals a broader shift in how the state intends to hold employers accountable for wage compliance. Behind the corporate explanations of technical errors and payroll miscalculations lie thousands of workers — care