Minimum Wage / National Living Wage Hourly Pay Checker
Check whether pay for a given period meets the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, including the effect of employer-provided accommodation and deductions for items required for the job.
This calculator is designed as an hourly pay check for time work. Different calculation rules apply to salaried-hours, output and unmeasured work.
The interval you’re actually paid at. This is the period the calculation checks — minimum wage compliance is assessed within each pay reference period, not as an annual average.
Apprentices aged 19 or over who have completed the first year of their apprenticeship are entitled to the rate for their actual age band, not the apprentice rate — select the age band above instead.
Pay before tax and National Insurance, for this pay reference period only.
Include time working, required travel between jobs/assignments and paid training. Exclude normal home-to-work commuting and genuine rest breaks.
Amounts deducted from pay, or paid by the worker back to the employer, for things connected with the job — e.g. uniform, tools or a compulsory training course. These reduce pay counted for minimum wage purposes, even if not shown as a payslip deduction. Don’t include tax, National Insurance, pension contributions, or voluntary deductions for the worker’s own benefit.
Enter 0 if the accommodation is free. There’s a daily “accommodation offset” rate the charge is measured against — charge above the offset reduces pay counted for minimum wage; charge at or below it has no effect; free accommodation adds the offset to pay instead. Only living accommodation is treated this way — no other benefit in kind (food, a car, childcare) counts towards minimum wage pay.
Complex cases, such as rent covering a different period from your pay period, paid absences or shared accommodation, may require a different calculation.
How This Was Calculated
- Unpaid trial shifts or “working interviews” longer than genuinely needed to assess suitability
- Time spent travelling between appointments or sites during the working day
- Compulsory training, briefings or handover time not logged as working time
- Uniform, tools or equipment costs deducted from pay or bought by the worker for the job
- Rounding down of hours worked, or pay not keeping pace with a birthday moving someone into a higher rate band
- Sleep-in shifts — whether these count as working time depends on the specific facts and case law; treat this calculator’s plain hours-worked figure as a starting point only, not a determination
Minimum Wage & National Living Wage Hourly Pay Checker UK 2026
Our Minimum Wage / National Living Wage Hourly Pay Checker works out an effective hourly rate for minimum wage purposes from your gross pay and hours worked, and compares it against the statutory rate for your age band. It also applies the accommodation offset rules that affect pay when an employer provides living accommodation. Use it as a quick, illustrative check — not a substitute for the official GOV.UK calculator or advice from Acas.
Current National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage Rates
The National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates are reviewed each April on the recommendation of the independent Low Pay Commission. This calculator automatically applies whichever set of rates is in force on the date you use it.
| Category | From 1 April 2025 | From 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 21 and over (National Living Wage) | £12.21 | £12.71 |
| 18 to 20 | £10.00 | £10.85 |
| Under 18 | £7.55 | £8.00 |
| Apprentice rate | £7.55 | £8.00 |
| Accommodation offset (daily) | £10.66 | £11.10 |
These figures change every April. Always confirm the current rate on GOV.UK’s minimum wage rates page before relying on a calculation.
Who Gets the Apprentice Rate?
The apprentice rate applies to apprentices aged under 19, and to apprentices aged 19 or over who are still in the first year of their current apprenticeship. An apprentice aged 19 or over who has completed their first year moves onto the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage rate for their actual age — not the apprentice rate. This is one of the most common sources of accidental underpayment for employers of apprentices.
How the Accommodation Offset Works
If an employer provides living accommodation, it’s the only kind of benefit in kind that affects minimum wage pay — food, a car or childcare vouchers don’t count either way. The charge for the accommodation is compared against a daily “offset rate” set by the government:
- Charge above the offset: the amount above the offset is subtracted from pay counted for minimum wage.
- Charge at or below the offset: no effect on pay for minimum wage purposes.
- Accommodation provided free: the offset amount is added to pay for minimum wage purposes (this can bring an otherwise-underpaid worker up to the minimum wage).
The offset is calculated per full day the accommodation is available, not per hour worked.
What Counts as Working Time?
For minimum wage purposes, working time generally includes time spent actually working, required travel between work locations during the working day, and time spent on employer-required training. It typically excludes ordinary travel between home and a fixed workplace, and genuine unpaid rest breaks. Some situations — particularly sleep-in shifts, on-call time and unpaid trial shifts — depend heavily on the specific facts and relevant case law, and are not something a simple calculator can determine reliably.
What Deductions Reduce Minimum Wage Pay?
Deductions or payments back to the employer for something connected with the job — most commonly uniform, tools or a compulsory training course — reduce the pay counted for minimum wage purposes, even where the worker technically received the full gross amount and paid some of it back separately. Deductions for tax, National Insurance, pension contributions (including auto-enrolment), and the worker’s own voluntary benefit (like a season ticket loan repayment they chose to take) don’t reduce minimum wage pay in this way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this calculator a legal or definitive compliance check?
No. It applies the standard calculation method to the figures you enter, but it can’t see your contract, your full working pattern, or case-specific facts like sleep-in shift rules. For a definitive check, use the official GOV.UK minimum wage calculator or contact Acas. If you believe you’ve been underpaid, HMRC enforces the minimum wage and can investigate on your behalf.
What happens if I’m found to have underpaid the minimum wage?
Employers who underpay must repay arrears to the worker at current minimum wage rates, and can face financial penalties from HMRC of up to 200% of the arrears, alongside possible public naming. Getting age bands, apprentice eligibility and deductions right is worth checking carefully, since underpayment is often accidental rather than deliberate.
Does the National Living Wage apply to all workers aged 21 and over?
It applies to almost all workers aged 21 and over who aren’t in the first year of an apprenticeship. A small number of categories — such as genuinely self-employed contractors, some company directors, and certain family members working in a family business — fall outside minimum wage rules entirely; if in doubt, check GOV.UK’s guidance on who is entitled to the minimum wage.
Do unpaid trial shifts break minimum wage rules?
They can. A short, genuine trial to assess whether someone can do a specific task (for example, a short till or cooking demonstration) may fall outside minimum wage rules, but longer “trial shifts” where a worker actually does productive work for the business are generally treated as working time and should be paid.
Does travel time count towards minimum wage hours?
Travel between different work assignments during the working day (for example, a care worker travelling between clients) usually counts as working time. Ordinary travel between home and a single fixed workplace generally does not.
How often do minimum wage rates change?
Rates are reviewed annually and normally take effect on 1 April each year, based on recommendations from the independent Low Pay Commission. This calculator automatically switches to the new rates once they take effect.