More than 1,200 garment workers in Leicester were illegally underpaid over the last five years, figures obtained by the BBC have revealed. The significant wage exploitation has been found in figures released by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), covering the past five financial years from 2019-20 to 2023-24. A total of £177,678 in National Minimum Wage arrears for workers were identified, with penalties of £338,504 issued to textile companies in the same time period.
The BBC's freedom of information (FOI) request also revealed that none of the employers responsible for the underpayments had received criminal convictions. The figures come after damning headlines about Leicester's garment supply chain during the pandemic. Earlier this year, several workers from India told the BBC they accepted between £3 and £5 an hour because they struggled to find work and could not speak English.
Sewing machine operator, Paramjit Kaur, said some employers covered their tracks by creating a paper trail, which appeared to show she earned the National Living Wage. "They would show 'full pay' on the payslip but once the money was in my bank, I was told to return it," she said. "I used to give it back in cash.
Three or four factories used to do this." When asked why she returned the money, the 61-year-old said: "It felt dirty and bad but I needed to work. No-one was paying more.
" Ms Kaur was supported by the Fashion-workers Advice Bureau Leicester (FAB-L), which has been backed and funded by severa.