Lidl GB has been ordered to repay more than £286,000 to 3,423 employees after it was found to have breached national minimum wage rules, according to the latest report from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

The discounter is among over 500 employers named and shamed by the government this week for failing to pay staff correctly between 2015 and 2022.

The total underpayment across all listed companies amounts to millions of pounds in lost wages, which has since been repaid in full.

According to the DBT, Lidl owed £286,437.18 in total to its workers, a figure the supermarket has since reimbursed. Lidl has been contacted for comment but has not issued a public response.

Fellow retailers Halfords and CDS Superstores, owner of The Range and former Wilko stores, were also named in the report.

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Halfords was found to have underpaid 4,341 retail workers by £140,829.79, and a further 760 employees at its Autocentres business by £38,470.94, while CDS Superstores underpaid 1,648 employees a total of £89,158.47.

The DBT said the named companies had all failed to meet legal minimum wage requirements, whether through deductions, unpaid training, uniform costs, or miscalculated working hours.

While most cases were unintentional, employers are legally required to ensure compliance with wage laws. Minister for Employment Rights Justin Madders said: “There is no excuse for employers to undercut their workers, and we will continue to name companies who break the law and don’t pay their employees what they are owed.”

“This will put more money in working people’s pockets, helping to boost productivity and ending low pay,”

The minimum wage issue remains a significant topic for the grocery sector, where large workforces and varied shift patterns increase the risk of technical breaches.

In February, Aldi increased its store assistants pay to at least £12.75 nationally, rising to £13.66 based on length of service, and to at least £14.05 within the M25, rising to £14.35, in a move it claims will make “Britain’s best-paying supermarket”.

Lidl has been contacted for comment.