ReportCoversmall

£1.65bn of wage theft from young people

Our new report Your Time, Your Pay, launched today, reveals a shocking culture of exploitation of young people at work. Our polling and case studies also show that the education system is failing to teach people about their rights at work.

Co-produced with several young people who shared their stories of work and exploitation, we found:

  • Young people lose up to £1.65bn in overtime wage theft every year, and we estimate over 100,000 young people are never paid for their overtime.
  • Nearly two-fifths of respondents did not have a written employment contract.
  • Over two-fifths of young people have worked for no pay.
  • Two-thirds of young people do not always get paid for working overtime.
  • Three-quarters of young people are not in a trade union.
  • Two-thirds of young people enter the workforce with no education about their employment rights.

The the launch event online, we heard from:

  • Finn Oldfield – Young person involved in co-producing the report
  • Cllr Patrick McAllister – Bristol Councillor – Green Party
  • Nkechi Adeboye – Young person involved in co-producing the report
  • Olivia Brooker – Young person involved in co-producing the report

We were also excited to partner with Valla, who produced a fantastic series of TikToks on workplace rights.