Lidl has made it onto a list of employers named by the government for failing to pay some workers the legal minimum wage.
Despite boasting sector-leading hourly rates, the discounter is among 518 businesses named and shamed by the Department for Business & Trade for failing to pay the national living or national minimum wage.
The list, which is in order of the total amount underpaid, has Lidl in sixth place, for underpaying by £286,437.18 across 3,423 workers.
Released today by the government, the list is the result of HMRC investigations that concluded between 2015 and 2022. All 518 employers included have since paid back what they owe to staff and faced financial penalties of up to 200% of their underpayment.
The news comes despite Lidl consistently offering sector-leading entry-level hourly rates, in a long-running tit-for-tat battle with Aldi to be the UK’s highest-paying supermarket.
Read more: How much do supermarkets pay their staff?
The two discounters currently offer the joint-highest hourly supermarket rate nationally, at £12.75. In London, Aldi pips Lidl to the post, offering £14.05 an hour, versus £14.
The rates are above the national living wage, which stands at £12.21 an hour for employees aged 21 and over. They are also above the real living wage, which is £13.85 in London and £12.60 across the rest of the UK.
The Grocer asked Lidl for its response to being on the list.
Other employers on the list include Scottish Midland Co-op, Southern Co-op, Heart of England Co-op, The Range owner CDS Superstores, Baxters Food Group, Oscar Mayer and JD Wetherspoon.
A Southern Co-op spokesperson said: “Following a standard national minimum wage audit by HMRC, it was highlighted that there had been a technical breach regarding legislation around uniform and salary sacrifice benefits which impacted some of our colleagues.
“This was an unintentional breach and colleagues affected received a one-off payment in 2021 to correct the error. A subsequent audit was validated by HMRC and an independent firm of accountants.
“We’re committed to being a responsible employer and upholding high standards for our colleagues and we have taken appropriate actions for the future.”
Heart of England Co-op CEO Steve Browne said: “We were horrified to discover we had inadvertently breached the rules around company uniforms by not providing footwear to some colleagues between 2015 and 2020. We apologise unreservedly for this.”
Policy on uniforms had since been amended, Browne added.
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