Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This video guide explains your right to the minimum wage
It’ll tell you what the minimum wage is, and who can and can’t get it.
It’ll also show you how to check you’re not being underpaid and help you claim the
minimum wage if you’re not being paid enough.
So who gets the National Minimum Wage?
Most workers in the UK over school leaving age have the right to the minimum wage.
This means your employer must pay you at least the National Minimum Wage hourly rate. If
they don’t, they’re breaking the law.
If you’re in a permanent job, on a short-term contract or an agency worker you should get
the minimum wage.
Most types of workers qualify, including apprentices, trainees, disabled workers and foreign workers
working in the UK. It doesn’t matter if you work part time or full time, you’ll
still be covered.
There are some cases where the minimum wage doesn’t apply.
For example, If you’re under 16, self-employed, a volunteer, in the armed forces, or work
and live as a member of a family, say as an au-pair, in these cases, the minimum wage
won’t apply to you.
For a full list of who is and who isn’t entitled to the minimum wage, or for help
and advice, contact the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368.
How to check your pay
It’s important to understand what pay counts and what pay doesn’t count.
The minimum wage is calculated on what’s called ‘gross’ pay. This means your total
pay before deductions for tax and National Insurance are taken off. Any sales commission
or bonus pay you get also counts as part of minimum wage pay.
But you shouldn’t count any loans, pension payments, retirement lump sums, redundancy
payments, or any tips you get from customers.
Extra allowances, for example for working unsocial hours or being ‘on call’, or
area-based allowances like London Weighting, don’t count either.
If you pay your employer or are charged for things in connection with your job, such
as uniform or tools, then this reduces your pay for minimum wage purposes.
If you have a question about your minimum wage pay you can contact the Pay and Work
Rights Helpline.
Pay reference period
When you get paid, you’ll get your money regularly. For most people, this is every
week or every month. This is called the ‘pay reference period’.
To check you’re being paid the minimum wage, you’ll need to do a little maths. You need
to work out the average hourly rate you got for your pay reference period.
We’re going to explain it for you here, but remember, if you’re not sure about anything,
you can contact the Pay and Work Rights Helpline for help and advice.
Doing the maths
If you’re paid monthly, you need to add up the total amount of cash you earned for
that month before deductions, and divide it by the number of hours you worked.
For example, if the total ‘gross’ pay you earned for the month was £600 and you
worked 100 hours, the sum would be:
600 / 100 = 6
So your average hourly pay for that month is £6 per hour. You then simply check it’s
not less than the hourly minimum wage rate that applies to you.
You can check the National Minimum Wage rates online.
Remember that the minimum wage rate depends on your age and it can also change each year,
usually in October. So it’s important to check you’re looking at the right amount.
If accommodation is provided
If your employer provides you with accommodation, the rules allow them to take this into account.
This is called the ‘accommodation offset’. In this case it’s a bit more complicated
to work out if you’re getting the minimum wage.
For more help, look at the text version of this guide online, or contact the Pay and
Work Rights Helpline.
Work experience
If you’re on work experience or a placement or internship, and you’ve arranged to spend
time with an employer as a worker, you’re entitled to the minimum wage for the work
you do.
There are some cases where you won’t be entitled. For example, if you’re a student
doing work experience as part of your course.
The minimum wage also doesn’t apply if you’re under school leaving age, on certain government
or European programmes, doing work experience as a volunteer, or doing a placement where
you only shadow someone, in other words, watching but not working yourself.
Keeping records
It’s important to keep written evidence of what you agree with your employer, the
tasks they ask you to do and the hours you work. This will help if you need to settle
a disagreement or make a complaint.
How to claim the minimum wage if you’re not being paid enough
There are a number of steps you can take if you think you’re not being paid the minimum
wage.
You should always speak to your employer first. It may be that they’ve made a mistake and
will put it right once you point it out to them.
If you think you’re being underpaid, you can write to your employer and ask to check
their pay records. By law they must show you the records within 14 days.
When you go to look at the records you can take someone with you to help, as long as
you said so in your letter. You can also copy the records.
If you don’t feel comfortable speaking to your employer, you can contact the Pay and
Work Rights Helpline for help.
They can help you ask the tax office - HM Revenue and Customs - to investigate for
you.
Even if you left a job several years ago, you can still raise a query - HMRC can investigate
claims dating back up to 6 years.
If your complaint’s successful, your employer could be ordered to pay you any back pay you’re
owed. This is known as ‘arrears’.
For advice or to make a complaint contact the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917
2368.