Go Outdoors among companies fined for underpaying staff

Go Outdoors has been named as one of the nearly 500 employers to be fined by the UK government for failing to pay staff National Minimum Wage.

The Lancashire-headquartered retailer was targeted as part of a wider government crackdown on companies underpaying their employees, contributing to wider efforts to overhaul workers’ rights in the UK.

Fines totalled 10.2 million pounds, a release issued by the Department for Business and Trade said, with around 42,000 workers having now been repaid by their employers.

According to the DBT, Go Outdoors failed to pay 240,105.62 pounds to 2,058 workers.

In response, a spokesperson for the retailer told the media: “The payments made by Go Outdoors in 2022 relate to practises re-dating the acquisition and integration of the business by JD Sports following an HMRC review.

“All payments that were due to colleagues and HMRC were settled in 2022.”

Other apparel-centric companies have also been included on the list. German brand Hugo Boss was reported to have underpaid 136 staff at a total of 16,699 pounds.

Contemporary womenswear label Self-Portrait, meanwhile, failed to pay 27,722 pounds to 11 workers, the DBT stated.

Under the Labour Party, the UK government has set out to upgrade workers rights across the region through its Plan to Make Work Pay.

The strategy’s implementation comes ahead of planned changes to the UK’s Employment Rights Bill which, from April 2026, is to see the establishment of a new Fair Work Agency, enabling “more powers to tackle employers underpaying workers and failing to pay holiday and sick pay”.