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Rights of at least one in seven UK workers illegally violated at their job

11 May 2026

At least 14 per cent of UK workers have experienced a clear violation of basic employment rights in the last two years, finds a new report led by UCL researchers.

The landmark study, commissioned by the former Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement and published by the Fair Work Agency, uncovered widespread and pervasive rights violations that harmed workers throughout the UK across all employment sectors. It is the most comprehensive study to measure employment rights violations faced by workers in the UK.<br>Some of the violations the researchers uncovered were clearly illegal, while others, because of the complexities of the law, were only potentially illegal depending on their context.<br>Widespread impacts<br>In total, at least 5.4 million workers were paid less than the National Minimum Wage, charged illicit work-finding fees, and/or not provided legally required payslips, contracts or key information documents, all of which are clear violations of UK employment law.<br>The rate of these violations increases to more than one in four (25.6 per cent) of the most vulnerable workers, termed “precarious workers”. These are people facing a combination of at least two factors such as low income, non-traditional jobs, or coming from an immigrant and/or ethnic minority background in a small workplace.<br>Additionally, the researchers found that seven in 10 (70 per cent) workers, or about 26.6 to 28.7 million people, have experienced at least one of a broader range of illegal, potentially illegal, or otherwise harmful practices at work. These broader issues include working unpaid extra hours, physical injuries at their workplace, being required to pay unfair deductions, facing leave-related difficulties, negative mental health impacts of work and bullying and harassment.<br>Project co-lead Dr Krisztián Pósch (UCL Security and Crime Science) said: “These issues are not limited to a select group of vulnerable workers. Our study shows that huge numbers of people across the UK are having their employment rights violated, and even more are being harmed in other ways at their workplace. These issues are complex, as are laws and regulations around worker protections, which poses challenges for attempts to make enforcement more effective.”<br>Additional findings<br>The research team surveyed a representative sample of over 4,000 UK workers about their experiences at work over a two-year period between 2023 and 2025, and followed up with a series of in-depth interviews. From this, the researchers uncovered a wide range of different violations and issues costing employees time and money and affecting their health.<br>National Minimum Wage – At least 6.1 per cent of the full workforce and 14.9 per cent of precarious workers were paid below the National Minimum Wage, a rate more than four times higher than previous estimates by the Low Pay Commission. In the full workforce, underpaid workers typically each lost £1,217 annually, while precarious workers typically lost £858.<br>Negative mental health – The most common issue was negative mental health impacts of work, affecting 37.5 per cent of the full workforce and 22.1 per cent of precarious workers.<br>Unpaid extra work – The second most common issue was unpaid extra work, affecting 31.8 per cent of the full workforce and 28.2 per cent of precarious workers. In the full workforce, those affected typically worked six unpaid hours for every 100 paid hours in, while for precarious workers this rose to eight unpaid hours for every 100 paid hours.<br>In interviews, workers often reported a range of underlying issues that helped to perpetuate some of these problems, such as understaffing, business pressures, and workers not knowing their rights or not feeling confident to exercise them.<br>Project co-lead Professor Ella Cockbain (UCL Security & Crime Science) said: “Not all breaches of the law are deliberate and not all harmful behaviour is illegal, but the sheer scale of problems identified suggests widespread non-compliance and other harms at work. The received wisdom that there are a few ‘bad apples’ among employers is simply not tenable anymore. We found problems across the system, and rights on paper did not necessarily translate into rights in practice. The results call for concerted action to improve worker protections and their enforcement.”<br>Recommendations<br>Published today, the report, ‘Working Lives: the scale and nature of labour market non-compliance and other work-based harms in the UK’, makes a series of recommendations, primarily aimed at the new Fair Work Agency (FWA), a government agency established this year, but includes suggestions for other areas...