Norwich City failed to pay £99,021.76 to 1,152 workers on the national minimum wage.
They are one of 389 firms, including their opponents on Saturday: Charlton Athletic, identified today by the Department for Business and Trade.
This is the result of the first naming round following reforms by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to publish such offenders. The full list, including the extent of each employee’s breaches, was revealed in a press release.
Norwich are yet to comment on the situation, but face pressure to release a statement.
It is not a good look for last season’s EFL Community Club of the Season after the announcement comes just weeks after their fixture against Birmingham City, which was centred around the Community Sports Foundation Charity.
Most notably, the first team players gave up a day’s wages, donating around £80,000 to the charity as a result.
The club will face the minimum penalty of mandatory repayments to those affected.
Non-compliance carries fines of up to 200% of arrears, public naming and shaming, and guidance suggests that repayments will take place at the current national minimum wage (NMW) rate rather than the NMW at time of breach.
Between the 389 employers, £7.3 million is owed in wage repayment, yet the combined penalties totals £12.6 million.
This suggests that an additional penalty has been imposed on the Norfolk club which will be on top of the wage repayments that they owe to their workers.
Interestingly, their opponents on Saturday are also in breach of the rules, although to a far lesser extent. They failed to pay £17,983.18 to 45 workers.
The news comes prior to the launch of the Fair Work Agency, expected to be in operation by April 2026, which will see a more coordinated and rigorous approach to enforcement, meaning that football clubs in general will have to tighten compliance protocols.
