Unpaid Wages Compensation Calculator
Estimate unpaid wages compensation using real published UK employment tribunal awards.
Important Context
These figures represent awarded compensation only. Many cases settle out of court for undisclosed sums. Success rate includes cases won at hearing; many withdrawn cases are also settled without a public award.
How compensation is measured in unpaid wages claims
This unpaid wages compensation calculator uses published employment tribunal judgments to give context on real awards. It is built for people trying to understand the range of outcomes, not to promise a result in any individual case. The figures combine the tribunal's visible compensation data with the claim type recorded for the judgment, so the page reflects documented decisions rather than private settlement figures or broad anecdotal estimates.
For unpaid wages and unlawful deduction claims, the tribunal usually looks at the amount that should have been paid and compares it with what was actually paid. These cases often involve wages, holiday pay, arrears, deductions, commission or other pay-related sums. The award is normally tied to the shortfall the tribunal finds proved.
Pay and contract claims are often more arithmetical than discrimination or dismissal claims, but the outcome still depends on evidence. The tribunal may need payslips, contracts, schedules, correspondence and witness evidence to decide what was due, what was paid and whether the claim was brought within the relevant time limit.
The numbers on this page are not a prediction of any individual claim. They summarise published decisions where compensation appears in the judgment, so they are useful for context but not a complete view of every claim issued, negotiated or settled. Many employment tribunal cases settle privately, and those settlement values usually do not appear in the public judgment record.
Use the median, highest award and top published cases as a starting point for research. The median is usually more useful than the average because very large awards can pull the average upward. The top cases show what has happened in documented disputes, but they should not be treated as normal outcomes. Legal advice is still needed before relying on any number for settlement, litigation risk or pleading a schedule of loss.
Top 10 Highest-Value Judgments
Finablr Ltd and others
2022
The 1st Respondent was ordered to pay £248,307.72 for unlawful deductions and £6,258.48 in holiday entitlement, as well as £25,000 for breach of contract.
View JudgmentNational Grid UK Ltd
2023
The claimant was awarded £170,888.63 for unlawful deductions from his pay, plus £2,300.50 in interest.
View JudgmentPlato's Coffeehouse 1 Ltd
2026
The claimant brought claims for unlawful deductions from wages and unpaid holiday entitlement against the respondent. The respondent failed to present a response to the claim. The tribunal, applying Rule 22 of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024, issued judgment in the claimant's favour.
View JudgmentMaxa London Ltd
2025
The respondent was found to have made unauthorized wage deductions and breached the claimant's contract, resulting in a total compensation of £127,250.
View JudgmentFoodstore Ltd
2026
The claimant, who worked as operations director for a family business and held 25% shareholding, was not paid salary from October 2024 onwards despite a share purchase agreement confirming his continued employment until April 2025. The tribunal found the claimant was validly an employee despite his other roles, and that the respondent made unauthorised deductions from wages and pension contributions totalling £112,854.84.
View JudgmentK Ryan Consulting Ltd
2025
The respondent failed to present a valid response and was ordered to pay the claimant €87,750 for unauthorised deductions from wages and €9,661.12 for failure to pay holiday entitlement.
View JudgmentMr R Mackinnon and Chiropractic First Group Limited (in liquidation)
2024
The claimant was successful in claims for unfair dismissal, breach of contract, unlawful deduction of wages, and holiday pay. The total compensation includes a basic award, compensatory award, breach of contract/notice pay, and other.
View JudgmentBehold.ai Technologies Ltd
2024
The tribunal found in favour of the first and second claimants, ordering the respondent to pay £20,047.22 to the first claimant and £74,803.14 to the second claimant for unauthorised deductions from wages and failure to pay employer pension contributions.
View JudgmentAdvanced Oncotherapy plc
2024
The claimant was awarded a total of £93,397.46 for unpaid salary and retention payments by the respondent. The claimant's other complaints relating to holiday pay, purchased holiday, and salary sacrifice payments were not determined as they remain outstanding.
View JudgmentKingdom of Sweets Ltd and Pick N Mix London Ltd
2024
The claimants were employed by the second respondent. The claims against the first respondent are dismissed. The claims for unlawful deduction from wages, breach of contract, and constructive unfair dismissal against the second respondent are successful.
View JudgmentFrequently asked questions
What is the average payout for unpaid wages?
In the published awarded cases in this dataset, the average unpaid wages payout is £4,906 and the median award is £1,830. This is based on 3,030 cases with visible compensation.
What is the highest unpaid wages award?
The highest published unpaid wages award in this dataset is £248,308. Large awards are unusual and can be driven by long periods of financial loss, injury to feelings or other case-specific factors.
What percentage of unpaid wages claims succeed?
In the matching published judgments, claimants succeeded in 74.3% of cases. That is based on 4,829 documented outcomes, not every claim issued or settled.