MORE than £450m is being lost through unpaid overtime in the UK every year, it has been claimed.

New research by a money saving website in the UK has revealed that one in five Britons work unpaid overtime every week.

And a total of £1,475.80 per Briton is missed out on every year as a result.

Furthermore, the legal sector is the most common sector for Britons to work unpaid overtime in.

The research also found that the majority of people clock up an extra four hours a week of unpaid work.

The research was carried out by www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, a leading money saving website within the UK.

They polled a total of 2,890 respondents, all of whom were currently in full-time employment.

Initially, respondents were asked ‘Do you ever work unpaid overtime?’ to which 19 per cent respondents said yes.

The remaining 81 per cent never worked unpaid overtime.

Those who did work unpaid overtime were asked to estimate how many hours a week they worked unpaid over their normal hours.

The top 5 answers were: 1. Four hours – 27 per cent 2. Six hours – 21 per cent 3. Eight hours – 19 per cent 4. Seven hours – 16 per cent 5. Three hours – 11 per cent The same group of respondents were then asked to reveal which industry they worked in.

They were presented with a list of possible answers and were asked to select which one applied to them.

Researchers compiled the results, with the top five results revealed as: 1. Legal sector – 19 per cent 2. Retail sector – 17 per cent 3. Government sector – 14 per cent 4. Technology sector – 12 per cent 5. Financial sector – nine per cent Next, respondents were asked to estimate how much they get paid per hour.

Researchers compiled the answers to reveal the average wage per hour amongst respondents was £7.85.

Using this data, researchers were able to estimate how much is lost per year through Britons working unpaid overtime.

Based on that data from the study, researchers estimated that the average respondent loses about £31.40 a week doing unpaid overtime.

It means that if they work 47 weeks in the year (based on the fact that the average Briton will get five weeks holiday), the average Briton would lose £1,475.80 a year working unpaid overtime.

With 9,672,729 (19 per cent of the population) people in the UK working unpaid overtime every week, researchers estimate that a total of £454,618,263 is lost through unpaid overtime every year.

George Charles, of www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, said: “These stats are extremely worrying.

“No one should be working unpaid and Britons should be rewarded for their hard work and overtime.

“The fact that more than £450m is lost every year as a result is cause of concern.

“And I call upon employers nationwide to take action and make sure their employers are rewarded for the work they do.”