Telephone calls to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) helpline have increased by 10% over 2005-2006, leading to £3,291,516 in unpaid wages being recovered for 25,314 workers.

The National Minimum Wage annual report says that the helpline received 61,000 calls in 2005/6, of these 2,100 were complaints about non-payment of the minimum wage, an increase of 10% on the previous year.

It says 32% of investigations undertaken by minimum wage enforcement teams uncovered incidence of non-compliance. The hospitality and hairdressing sectors have shown an increase in the number of complaints about non-payment of the minimum wage; and for the second year running there were a larger number of complaints from female workers than male workers.