More than half of British workers have never asked their boss for a pay rise, a survey has found.

Only 46 per cent of people have had a conversation with their employer about increasing their pay – despite 54 per cent feeling they are underpaid.

And it seems this reluctance is mainly down to our squeamishness over talking about money.

The poll of 2,000 workers revealed that a fifth of employees dread having to talk about pay or contracts – with 21 per cent admitting they are too nervous to ask for a pay review.

And one in five fear losing their job, according to the research by employment law specialists Slater & Gordon.

Others said they felt uncomfortable talking about money, thought it would make them appear ungrateful, or worried it would damage their relationship with their boss.

Deborah Casale, from Slater & Gordon, said: ‘A lot of people don’t have a trade union to fight their corner any more so they can easily find themselves being taken advantage of in the workplace.

'This research revealed that many people thought they were underpaid or paid less than colleagues who were doing the same role but felt too scared to have a conversation with their employer about their pay.

'Often people prefer not to talk about money and to be discreet about how much they earn but this can often leave them at a real disadvantage.

'We deal with a lot of cases every year where employees know they have been treated differently to colleagues with no justification as to why that decision has been taken.

'It’s key for people to feel that they can address issues around pay and benefits openly with their manager to prevent these discrepancies in treatment happening.'

The research identified a trend among employees to expect their managers to pay them a fair salary without them needing to ask or negotiate.

A third said they knew that their colleagues who did the same job as them but got paid more money.

A fifth said they would always assume that their managers treated them and their colleagues equally and only a quarter had ever instigated a conversation with colleagues on salary to gauge how fairly they were being paid.

Of those that knew their colleagues were paid more for doing the same job, just 36 per cent felt confident enough to raise the issues with their manager.

Thirteen per cent admitted they had lost their employment contract while 15 per cent said they had never been given one.

A quarter didn’t know if there were restrictive covenants in their contract and 21 per cent said they had no idea what their notice period was.

Of those respondents that were paid a bonus or commission as part of their remuneration package, seventy per cent said the process of deciding how much they would be paid was unfair.