Are you 23 or over?

Are you 23 or over?

If you are a worker aged 23 and over, and not in your first year of an apprenticeship, you are legally entitled to at least the National Living Wage of £10.42 per hour.

It is illegal for your employer to pay you below the National Living Wage, so check your pay and talk to your manager to make sure you’re getting the wages you are entitled to.

Call the Acas helpline if you would like confidential advice on your pay and rights at work.

Think you are being underpaid? Find out how to report this to HMRC. This only takes 5 minutes and you can report your employer even if you no longer work for them. Your details will not be shared with your employer.

Are you under 23?

Are you under 23?

If you are a worker aged under 23, you are legally entitled to at least the National Minimum Wage rate relevant to your age group.

 

Date 21 to 22 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
Before April 2023 £9.18 £6.83 £4.81 £4.81
From April 2023 £10.18 £7.49 £5.28 £5.28

 

It is illegal for your employer to pay you less than the National Minimum Wage, so check your pay and talk to your manager to make sure you’re getting the pay rate increase you are entitled to.

Call the Acas helpline if you would like confidential advice on your pay and rights at work.

Think you are being underpaid? Find out how to report this to HMRC. This only takes 5 minutes and you can report your employer even if you no longer work for them. Your details will not be shared with your employer.

Are you an apprentice?

Are you an apprentice?

If you are in your first year of your apprenticeship then you are legally entitled to at least the apprenticeship National Minimum Wage pay rate of £5.28 per hour.

If you are aged 19 or over and have completed the first year of your apprenticeship, then you are legally entitled to the higher National Living and Minimum Wage rates relevant to your age group.

Call the Acas helpline if you would like confidential advice and support on your pay and rights at work.

Think you are being underpaid? Find out how to report this to HMRC. This only takes 5 minutes and you can report your employer even if you no longer work for them. Your details will not be shared with your employer.

Check whether any of these common minimum wage payment mistakes could apply to you and make sure you’re not missing out.

If you are aged 18 or under then your employer is paying you the correct rate. If you are 19 and over your employer must pay you the higher rate relevant to your age group.

It is illegal for your employer to pay you the apprentice rate before or after your apprenticeship. You are entitled to be paid the higher rate relevant to your age group.

Time spent training is working time so you should be paid at least the National Minimum Wage for this time. It does not matter whether training takes place at work, college or elsewhere. The training can even be outside normal working hours.

Is your employer paying you properly?

Is your employer paying you properly?

Think you might be underpaid? Report this to HMRC. Some of the most common wage payment mistakes are listed below.

How to report to HMRC if you’re not paid correctly

This video explains how you can report to HMRC if you’re not being paid the correct National Minimum Wage.

If you’re being underpaid or think you’re being underpaid, talk to your employer first. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, report this to HMRC. If you have been underpaid by your employer, you are legally entitled to the back pay you are owed.

You can also call the Acas helpline for free and confidential advice.

Check whether any of these common minimum wage payment mistakes could apply to you and make sure you’re not missing out.

If you receive tips at work, they cannot legally count towards your National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage rate. If tips are counted as part of your pay, and you rely on them to bring your pay up to the National Living or Minimum Wage pay rate, then you could be underpaid and not receiving the wages you are legally owed.

Think you might be underpaid? Your employer could owe you back pay. Report this to HMRC or call the Acas helpline for confidential advice.

If your employer has deducted from your wages, or you’ve had to pay, the cost of items connected with your job then you may have been underpaid. Examples include uniform, items of clothing to meet a required dress code, safety clothing or tools. Deductions or payments for items connected with the job must not take you below the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage rates for any given pay period.

Think you might be underpaid? Your employer could owe you back pay. Report this to HMRC or call the Acas helpline for confidential advice.

Time spent travelling between different assignments whilst at work, is time spent working. You should be paid at least the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage for this travelling time.

Think you might be underpaid? Your employer could owe you back pay. Report this to HMRC or call the Acas helpline for confidential advice.

Additional working time added on to a worker’s shift, before the start or after it ends should be paid at least the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage. Examples include time spent passing through security checks, attending handover meetings between shifts or helping to open up shop before trading begins.

Think you might be underpaid? Your employer could owe you back pay. Report this to HMRC or call the Acas helpline for confidential advice.

Your age affects the pay rate you should receive on the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage. If your employer didn’t review your pay on either your 18th, 21st, or 23rd (from 1 April 2021) or 25th birthday (prior to April 2021) and was slow to make any increases, you might not have got all the pay that you’re owed.

Think you might be underpaid? Your employer could owe you back pay. Report this to HMRC or call the Acas helpline for confidential advice.

Yes, Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) provides free, confidential and impartial advice to employers and workers on all aspects of workplace relations and employment law. The Acas helpline has a free translation service for over 100 languages and can be called on 0300 123 1100.

You can ask Acas about:

  • Employment rights and responsibilities
  • Pay and the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage

 

HMRC may contact you for further details as needed. If it looks like you have not been paid correctly, they will investigate your employer. HMRC will keep you updated on progress and if you are owed any money, HMRC will tell your employer to pay this directly to you.

If HMRC investigates your employer and concludes that the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage has not been paid correctly to a worker or group of workers, it will issue a Notice of Underpayment to that employer which sets out the arrears to be paid to the workers together with a penalty imposed on the employer. The employer may also be publicly named.

Arrears paid to workers can go back a number of years, are paid at the higher current National Living or Minimum Wage rates and your employer will have to pay the correct pay rates going forward.

HMRC will keep you updated on progress of any investigation.

When HMRC investigates an individual worker complaint, it is often the case that other workers in the same or similar situation end up being paid arrears too.

No. You don’t still have to be working for the employer in question to report to HMRC. HMRC investigations can go back six years.

If you report to HMRC and wish to remain anonymous, HMRC can hide your identity from an employer during an investigation.

Yes. HMRC act on information from a range of sources, however those who report on the behalf of others will not be updated on the progress of any employer investigation.

Are you an employer?

Are you an employer?

The National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates change on 1 April 2023. Make sure you update your payroll so your workers get paid at least what they are legally entitled to.

The National Living Wage applies to workers aged 23 and over. This was introduced on 1 April 2021.

National Living and Minimum Wage rates

 

23 and over 21 to 22 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice
Before April 2023 £9.50 £9.18 £6.83 £4.81 £4.81
From April 2023 £10.42 £10.18 £7.49 £5.28 £5.28

 

You can call the Acas Helpline to get advice and support to ensure that you understand what you need to do to pay your workers correctly.

Even if you are paying your workers at or above the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage, you could still be underpaying them. This can easily happen when an employer makes wage deductions or doesn’t pay for all time worked.

Some of the most common mistakes are listed below. Check whether any of them could apply to your staff. If you discover you have been paying your workers below the correct minimum wage, you must pay any arrears immediately, including any back pay.

If a worker receives tips at work, they cannot legally be counted towards their National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage entitlement, they must be paid on top. If tips are counted as part of their pay, and you rely on them to bring their pay up to the National Living or Minimum Wage, then you could be illegally underpaying your staff.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.

If your workers’ work involves travel between different assignments, and you don’t pay them for that time, you might be underpaying your staff.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.

If you have deducted your workers’ wages to cover the cost of items connected with their job such as uniform, a required dress code, safety clothing, or tools etc. then you may have been underpaying them. Deductions or payments made by workers for items connected with the job must not take a worker below the National Living or Minimum Wage for any given pay period.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.

If you require your workers to work any additional time added onto their shift, before the start or after it ends, but don’t pay for this time you could be illegally underpaying them. Examples include time spent passing through security checks, attending handover meetings between shifts or helping to open up shop before trading begins. If you do this regularly, this unpaid time can quickly add up and you might find that you are failing to pay the National Living or Minimum Wage.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.

The apprentice National Minimum Wage rate applies to genuine apprentices only, those employed on a recognised apprenticeship scheme or engaged under a contract of apprenticeship. Apprenticeships must incorporate structured training.

If an apprentice is aged 19 or over and has completed the first year of their apprenticeship, then they are legally entitled to at least the National Living or Minimum Wage relevant to their age group.

Apprentice training or study time is working time so should be paid accordingly. It does not matter whether training takes place at home, work, college or elsewhere. The training can even be outside normal working hours.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.

Age affects the rate a worker should be paid on the National Living or Minimum Wage. If you didn’t review your worker’s pay on their 18th, 21st or 23rd birthdays and were slow to make any adjustments, you may not have been paying them correctly.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.

The new National Living and Minimum Wage rates will be introduced on 1 April 2023. Employers must start applying the new rates in the first pay reference period that starts on or after this date. Pay reference periods are usually set by how often someone is paid, for example one week or one month.

Further information and advice is available on the employers’ National Minimum Wage page, and through Acas by calling 0300 123 1100.