Asda has promised to repay 53,000 current and former staff members who were found to have been underpaid for holiday and sick pay following its Project Future IT upgrade. 

The retailer started notifying impacted workers today (29 January) after an internal investigation revealed that thousands had been paid incorrectly from February 2024 to May 2025 due to problems calculating additional absences after the switch-over from its Walmart payroll system, The Grocer reported.

Roughly 80% of the impacted workers were owed under £19 on average, according to the supermarket.

Asda said that it had committed to pay them all back, plus an additional discretionary 12% interest payment, by the end of February 2026.

Asda has reportedly not disclosed how much the final bill could amount to.

The problem marks Asda’s second major issue with hourly pay since it moved to its new HR system in February 2024. In March 2024, it was reported that nearly 10,000 Asda workers had received incorrect payslips due to an IT glitch, with union bosses suggesting some had been underpaid.

The roughly 9,000 impacted workers had been paid back, the grocery giant claimed at the time.

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Despite this, The Grocer understands that a broader problem with holiday and sickness pay was found. 

The problems solely impacted sickness and holiday pay and were fully resolved in May 2025, with the system now “functioning as expected,” according to the supermarket.

Of the 53,000 affected staff members, 20,000 had since left the company, but would still receive the money they were owed, Asda insisted.

Asda chief people officer James Goodman said: “No Asda colleague will be worse off financially.

“Whether you currently work with us or have worked with us, we are paying back every penny owed with 12% interest.

“Any colleague who has been overpaid will be allowed to keep the money, and we are repaying the money that was recovered in March 2024 because of issues caused by the switch over to Project Future.”

He added: “We’ve also taken the steps to ensure nothing like this can happen again, validated by external experts.”

Grocery Gazette has contacted Asda for comment.