The Unpaid Britain Project was set up to examine the non-payment of wages in Britain, with a particular focus on London. It was jointly funded by the Trust for London and Middlesex University Business School. For the purpose of this study, we consider failure to pay, on time, the contractually agreed sum for work done to constitute unpaid wages. Contractual agreement is taken to include minimum legal guarantees such as National Minimum Wage, holiday pay in line with the Working Time Regulations, and statutory pay such as sick pay (SSP), maternity pay (SMP), paternity pay (SPP) and adoption pay (SAP). Work is also taken to include “self-employment”.
Other forms of unpaid time such as work experience, volunteering, family work, unpaid internships and additional hours worked by salaried staff are not included in this study, although they are clearly related. This relationship will be the focus, however, of a later discussion paper.
Unpaid Britain considered the right to a wage in a historical, legislative and international context, and the significance of its breach. We have begun to investigate the scale, distribution, trends, causes and costs to workers, their families and the state, of non-payment of wages in Britain, focusing predominantly on London, but data and case studies from other parts of Britain will also be examined.
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