Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 7 September 2026
source“Next overturns court ruling which forced it to pay shop staff the same as warehouse workers”
R5/ 10
Selective
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates Daily Mail's claim that Next "overturns" the ruling forcing equal shop/warehouse pay a 5/10 because the Employment Appeal Tribunal actually delivered a split verdict, rejecting most of Next's other appeals, and the Mail's story omits this entirely.
The Verdict
Selective. The basic-pay reversal is real, but the headline and article present it as a clean, total win when the tribunal simultaneously rejected Next's arguments on night pay, overtime, rest breaks and the core question of whether its practices disadvantaged women. Leaving that out flatters the outcome for Next far beyond what the judgment actually delivered.
What actually happened
The Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned the 2024 finding that Next had to pay shop staff the same basic hourly rate as warehouse workers, accepting that recruitment pressures justified the gap. But the same tribunal rejected Next's challenges over whether its pay practices disadvantaged women, as well as its arguments that lower rates of night-time pay and overtime and the lack of paid rest breaks were justified, and sent the Sunday premium issue back for further consideration.
Key facts
- EAT overturned the basic-pay element only, accepting Next's argument that offering warehouse operatives a higher market rate than shop assistants was justified, pointing to recruitment and retention challenges particular to warehouse positions.
- The tribunal rejected Next's challenges over whether its pay practices disadvantaged women, as well as its arguments that lower rates of night-time pay and overtime and the lack of paid rest breaks were justified.
- More than 3,500 current and former employees, mainly women, had been set to share potentially more than £30m in back pay as a result of that judgement, a figure entirely absent from the Mail's piece.
- Leigh Day, representing the claimants, described the conclusion on basic pay as "disappointing" and said it will appeal the decision.
What to watch for
Watch whether Leigh Day's further appeal on basic pay proceeds and whether the Sunday premium issue, sent back to the original tribunal, produces another ruling against Next. Also worth tracking how the split verdict shapes similar live cases against Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
