The Belgian coffee shop chain Le Pain Quotidien has been criticised for stopping paid breaks for staff ahead of the introduction of the government’s “national living wage”, and for failing to pass on all staff tips.

The upmarket eatery is the latest business to be revealed to have cut staff perks in the weeks leading up to and after the wage was imposed at the beginning of April. The number of employers trimming back benefits has prompted the chancellor, George Osborne, to say that those cutting paid breaks, Sunday pay, free food and overtime are not acting within the spirit of the law.

Separately, the business secretary, Sajid Javid, is expected to release the results of an eight-month investigation into abuse of tipping on Monday. He is considering whether government intervention is necessary to strengthen the voluntary code of practice run by the restaurant industry.

Staff at Le Pain Quotidien had new terms and conditions imposed just over a month ago, offsetting a rise in their basic pay from about £6.80 an hour, just over the minimum wage, to the new minimum of £7.20 an hour for over-25s.

The removal of paid breaks effectively wipes out the pay increase promised by the national living wage, which Osborne introduced with the declaration that “Britain needs a pay rise.”

Workers said the end to paid breaks was the latest blow after years of Le Pain Quotidien – which has 26 outlets in the UK – pocketing at least half the 12.5% service charge paid by customers, most of whom believe the money goes to waiters and chefs.

One former member of staff at the privately owned chain, which was founded by the Belgian former chef Alain Coumont in 1990, said: “This is money that customers pay because they believe it is a top-up for the staff. But actually it is not … It is a ripoff of both customers and staff.”

A current member of staff said she believed she received less than half the service charge paid by customers during her shift but could not be sure because the calculation of the payment was not broken out on her payslip.

“It’s really difficult to work out as it’s partly based on the work you do,” she said, “but I don’t think it’s as much as half.”

She said staff were upset about the end to paid breaks as they sometimes were not even able to take a break during a busy eight-hour shift.

Dave Turnbull, the Unite regional officer, said: “It is outrageous that, despite all the negative publicity around popular high-street chains pocketing staff tips, restaurants like Le Pain Quotidien are still taking such a huge portion of the service charge.

“If there’s one thing Sajid can take away from this, it is that without the introduction of a fair industry-wide standard, unscrupulous bosses will continue to abuse staff tips.”

Le Pain Quotidien declined to comment.

The MP Siobhain McDonagh, who instigated a debate in parliament about the issue earlier this month, said she had been inundated by people who had found perks and benefits cut ahead of the introduction of the new wage.

She suggested the government should legislate to ensure staff received a paid break during every shift.

“The more cases I hear about, the more I think we have a real crisis in company attitudes to their staff. There seems to be a prevailing understanding of the cost of everything but the value of nothing.”

Retail chains that have cut staff perks

• Waiting staff at the pizza chain Zizzi have had the amount they earn from tips cut, and workers will have their choice of free meals limited.

• Caffè Nero has cut free food for staff
• Waitrose has stopped paying overtime on Sunday to some workers
  
• B&Q has also stopped paying Sunday overtime to some workers. The B&Q pay cuts for shopfloor staff contrast to a near £1m bonus paid to the chief executive, Veronique Laury. The retailer’s annual report and accounts, published on Friday, show that Laury’s basic salary of £700,000 was boosted with perks of £228,000 and an annual bonus of £967,000, for a total pay package of £1.98m last year.
• The Guardian also understands that SSP, the London listed business which owns train station eateries, such as Upper Crust and Cafe Ritazza, changed its bonus scheme for staff in September, after the announcement of the national living wage, making it much harder for them to hit the required targets. One member of staff said the change had cut her pay by as much as £90 a month.

A spokesperson for SSP said: “We have made no changes to either staff benefits or bonuses as a result of the introduction of the national minimum wage. We re-evaluate performance targets for the staff bonus scheme every year as we seek to better align employee performance with reward. The potential bonus award has remained unchanged.”