More bosses than ever are being caught not paying the minimum wage

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Fines given to businesses for not paying the legal minimum wage have reached record high totals, according to figures released by HMRC.

Nearly £1m was clawed back from law-breaking employers in the last financial year – over eight times as much as bosses were paying five years ago.

Between 250,000 and 300,000 people are being unlawfully paid under the minimum wage in Britain, according to separate estimates by the TUC and independent think-tanks.

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The tax authority says it has stepped up enforcement of the rules in recent years, with 232 staff now working in its minimum wage department, up from 171 at the start of the previous financial year.

Civil fines were introduced in 2009 by the last Labour government for not paying their workers the legal minimum wage.

Financial penalties for employers who don’t pay their workers the minimum wage can reach up to £20,000 per underpaid worker.

The Government has pledged to increase the level of fines for businesses who do not pay them. It has previously been criticised for low levels of criminal prosecutions for enforcing the minimum wage, however - preferring instead to use civil penalties.

HMRC says the "vast majority" of firms issued with civil penalty notices pay when asked to.

“The national living wage will only work if it is properly enforced,” David Cameron wrote in an article for The Times newspaper earlier this summer.

The Government has announced an increase in the National Living Wage and has rebranded it as the National Living Wage, though it is still below the independently calculated rate for a “living wage”.

Cleaners are sometimes illegally paid below the minimum wage The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank said any gains from people who benefited from the minimum wage would likely be wiped out by concurrent cuts to tax credits, however.

The Independent contacted HMRC for comment on this article.

Lord Bridges, a parliamentary secretary in the Lords said: "The government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker."