AROUND 362,000 workers were paid less than the minimum wage this year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday.

The ONS also said the gender pay gap has narrowed, but “at a snail’s pace” and that it would take decades for it to close fully, said TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.

The massive 73 per cent increase in the number of people being paid below the legal minimum compared to last year means the Tory government urgently needs to make sure that bosses pay up, the TUC said.

Ministers dressed up the national minimum wage rise as the “national living wage” when it ex-chancellor George Osborne introduced last April, despite it not being enough to live on.

Ms O’Grady said: “These figures are very worrying. The government must use next month’s Autumn Statement to beef up minimum wage enforcement.

“There should be no hiding place for bosses who try to cheat their workers out of a fair day’s pay. Failing to pay the minimum wage squeezes those who have the least.”

The estimate excludes the underreporting of hours in sectors such as social care and many of the common “minimum wage scams,” such as bogus self-employment, volunteering and internships, the TUC said.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams called the figures “more disappointing news for working people.”

She said: “When taken with figures earlier this month showing the rate of earnings growth slowing since April this year, it is clear that the Tories are failing on making work pay.”

Meanwhile, the gender pay gap for full-time workers fell last year by 0.2 per cent to 9.4 per cent, the lowest since records began in 1997. But it remains at around 20 per cent for higher earners.

The TUC said mums who want to work need to be helped and the government needs to scrap employment tribunal fees that stop women from getting justice from discriminatory bosses.

Shadow equalities secretary Sarah Champion echoed criticisms of the sluggish pace.

She said: “Women are stuck in low-paid, part-time work and remain overwhelmingly responsible for childcare.

“Under the Tories the majority of the tax and benefit changes have fallen on the shoulders of women.

“It’s no wonder they still refuse to carry out a gender impact assessment on their own policies.”