In the last year alone, 8.5million unpaid hours of work have been clocked up by criminals, equivalent to a wage bill of 50million.

Extra administrative demands, an increase in working unpaid hours and constraints caused by budget cuts were also mentioned frequently.

And if all such unpaid hours are included, salaries for many self-employed work out well below the minimum wage.

Not all companies joining the campaign did so by working extra unpaid hours: some cancelled projected price increases, and waived fees.