The National Minimum Wage is not a rate on a contract. It is a floor on your average pay across the whole pay reference period — and that distinction is where almost every breach comes from.
An employer can pay a perfectly legal hourly rate and still be in breach, because ten hours of unpaid overtime drags the average below the minimum.
Current rates
| Age | Hourly rate |
|---|---|
| 21 and over (National Living Wage) | £12.71 |
| 18 to 20 | £10.85 |
| 16 to 17 | £8.00 |
| Apprentice | £8.00 |
Rates change every April. Your rate also changes from the first pay period after a birthday that moves you into a higher band.
Check whether your pay is legal
The four ways it goes wrong
Unpaid working time. Time spent on required training, travelling between jobs, or waiting to start where you must be present all counts. So does time spent going through security or handovers. None of it can be unpaid.
Rounding that only goes down. Rounding clock-in times to the nearest 15 minutes is lawful. Rounding the start up and the end down is not, because you are systematically paid for less time than you worked.
Deductions. Accommodation above the offset, and costs you are required to meet for the job — uniforms, tools, DBS checks — reduce your minimum wage pay and can create an underpayment.
Tips counted towards the minimum. Tips can never count towards the minimum wage. They must be on top of it. Since 2024 employers must also pass on all tips to workers.
The apprentice rate
The apprentice rate applies to apprentices under 19, or those aged 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship. After the first year, someone aged 19 or over moves to the rate for their age — an increase most apprentices have to ask for.
If you are being underpaid
Raise it with your employer first, in writing. If that does not resolve it, HMRC enforces the minimum wage and you can report an employer confidentially.
Employers found in breach must repay arrears at current rates rather than the rate at the time, face penalties of up to 200% of the underpayment, and are publicly named. Hundreds of employers of every size are named each year.
Acas offers free advice on 0300 123 1100.
Sources
- National Minimum Wage rates — GOV.UK
- Calculating the minimum wage — GOV.UK
Checked against source on 30 August 2026. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Written by Nathan Cole
I built the calculators on HoursHQ and check every statutory figure against GOV.UK, Acas and the legislation itself before it goes live. Where the law is genuinely unclear, I say so rather than guessing.