BRITISH workers are losing billions of pounds in unpaid overtime every year.

Statistics published by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have shown employees would take home an extra £4,800 if they were paid the average wage for the extra hours.

In 2006 Britons put in £23 billion of unpaid overtime by skipping lunch or staying late after work and the TUC is calling for employers not to take their staff for granted.

Brendan Barber, general secretary at the TUC, said: ‘In the UK, we still work the longest hours in Europe and too many workplaces are gripped by a long hours culture.

‘We do not want to turn Britain into a nation of clock watchers and few mind putting in extra effort from time to time when it is needed, but it is too easy for extra time to get taken for granted and then expected every week.’