Boss on £220 million pays catering staff less than living wage

its 1,141-strong workforce a total of just £14.3million in the last year – an average of £12,500 each. Online job adverts show that caterers are being offered as little as £8.21 per hour for their services, which is equal to the national minimum wage for those aged 25 and over.

But one advert for a kitchen assistant/front of house worker in London advertises a rate of £8.50 an hour – well below the recommended London Living Wage of £10.55.

Several reviews on the jobs website Indeed complain of poor pay and zero-hours contracts at ABM Catering, which had £28million turnover in the year to July 2019 and pre-tax profits of £901,456.

ABM Catering, founded in 1983, is chaired by Peter Coates, father of Denise, 52. The family’s most lucrative business however is Bet365 – founded in 2000 – now one of the world’s largest gambling companies. Headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent, Bet365 last year pulled in revenues of

£2.9 billion and pre-tax profits of £660million.

Denise, who has a 50.1 per cent shareholding and is joint chief executive, was paid £220million plus a £45million dividend, a total of £265million.

The previous year, she received £199million in pay plus an £18million dividend.

ABM Catering said the average pay figure of £12,500 reflects the fact that 85 per cent of its workforce do not have full time roles, which enables them to ‘balance their work around their family life, studies and/or other interests’.

It added that ABM’s hourly rates are ‘standard for the industry’ and are set in accordance with the ‘budgets set by our clients’ – most of which are public organisations that have ‘tight’ cost regimes – and comply with ‘all applicable law’.