The Minimum Wage in the UK

Who this guide is for

Workers anywhere in the UK who want to check they are paid at least the minimum wage, and what to do if they are not. The minimum wage law applies to most workers across all parts of the UK.

What this guide does not cover

• Holiday pay and irregular hours: use the zero hours checker. Agency workers' pay after 12 weeks: use the agency worker checker.
• Whether you are a worker or self-employed: use the worker or self-employed checker.
• Tips and sleep-in shifts. This guide does not cover them in detail: ask Acas (Great Britain) or the LRA (Northern Ireland).
• Your other rights at work: use the employee rights checker. Tribunal time limits in detail: use the tribunal deadline checker.

The questions that decide the answer

1. Are you over school leaving age? Below it, the minimum wage does not apply yet.
2. How old are you, and are you an apprentice? Your age, and whether you are in the first year of an apprenticeship, decide your rate.
3. Are you a worker? The minimum wage applies to most workers. The genuinely self-employed are not covered.
4. How many hours did you work in the pay period, and what were you paid for them? Divide your pay by all the hours you worked to check your hourly rate.
5. Where do you work? The rates are the same across the UK, but how you complain and the tribunal time limits differ in Northern Ireland.

"What is my minimum wage?"

From 1 April 2026 the hourly rates are:

• Aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage): £12.71.
• Aged 18 to 20: £10.85.
• Under 18 and over school leaving age: £8.00.
• Apprentices: £8.00.

You must be at least school leaving age to get the National Minimum Wage, and aged 21 to get the National Living Wage. Below school leaving age there is no minimum wage at all, so the under-18 rate is not due.

In England and Wales you are over school leaving age after the last Friday in June of the school year in which you turn 16.

In Scotland, if you turn 16 between 1 March and 30 September, you are over school leaving age after 31 May of that year. If you turn 16 between 1 October and the end of February, you are over it from the start of your school Christmas holidays in that school year. So some 15-year-olds are over school leaving age and do get the under-18 rate.

In Northern Ireland, if you turn 16 between 1 September and 1 July, you are over school leaving age after 30 June of that school year. If you turn 16 between 2 July and 31 August, you are not over it until 30 June the following year.

Apprentices are entitled to the apprentice rate if they are aged under 19, or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. An apprentice aged 19 or over who has completed the first year of their apprenticeship is entitled to the minimum wage for their age. For example, an apprentice aged 21 in the first year gets £8.00, and after the first year gets £12.71.

The rates change on 1 April every year.

Which time must be paid

You must be paid at least the minimum wage for all the time you are at work and required to be working. This includes:

• extra time your employer adds on to your shift, such as a team handover or passing through security checks on the way in and out
• time at the workplace when you are required to be available for work
• travel in connection with work, including from one job to the next, but not travel between home and work
• training, or travelling to training
• waiting to collect goods, meet someone for work or start a job

Rest breaks you take do not count. Your average pay per hour, worked out over the period each pay packet covers, must be at least the minimum wage.

"My employer provides my accommodation"

From 1 April 2026 the accommodation offset is £11.10 a day. That is the most an employer can count towards the minimum wage for each day it provides accommodation.

"Money is taken out of my pay"

A deduction cannot normally reduce your pay below the minimum wage, even if you agree to it. Some deductions are allowed to, such as tax, National Insurance, repaying a loan or an advance of wages, repaying an accidental overpayment of wages, and accommodation provided by your employer.

"Money is taken for till shortages or missing stock"

If you work in a shop or another retail job, money taken from your pay for cash shortages or missing stock cannot be more than one tenth (10%) of your gross pay on any pay day. This limit applies across the UK.

Whether a deduction like this can take your pay below the minimum wage: this guide does not cover it, so ask an adviser.

"I think I'm being underpaid. What can I do?"

Check your payslips and the hours you worked. The government's "Check your pay" page (gov.uk/checkyourpay) explains what you can do.

You can get free, impartial and confidential advice from Acas, and complain that you have been underpaid through the Acas "Pay and work rights" helpline and complaints service.

In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) on 03300 555 300.

In Northern Ireland you can also report underpayment to HMRC. The LRA or the Acas helpline can transfer you.

HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency and considers all complaints from workers.

You can also claim unpaid wages at an employment tribunal. Before most claims you must notify Acas to start early conciliation. Your time limit is paused while conciliation runs, but only if you notify Acas within your time limit.

You can also bring a claim at an industrial tribunal. Before most claims you must notify the LRA. If you notify the LRA within your time limit, the clock stops for up to 1 calendar month while conciliation takes place, plus up to 14 more days if both sides agree.

Deadlines you must meet

• England, Wales and Scotland: a claim for unpaid wages at an employment tribunal must be made within 6 months less 1 day if you were paid (or last paid, for a series) on or after 1 October 2026. If that pay date was before 1 October 2026, the limit is 3 months less 1 day. Count from the date you were paid.
• England, Wales and Scotland: a claim for unlawful deductions from wages cannot go back more than 2 years before the date the claim is made to the tribunal.
• Northern Ireland: a claim for unpaid minimum wage at an industrial tribunal, made as unlawful deductions from wages, must be made within 3 months less 1 day from the date you were paid (the last one, for a series). The 6-month change on 1 October 2026 does not apply to it.
• Your exact date depends on your facts: the tribunal deadline checker works it out.

Money figures

• From 1 April 2026: £12.71 (21 and over), £10.85 (18 to 20), £8.00 (under 18), £8.00 (apprentices). Accommodation offset: £11.10 a day.

Traps

• The National Living Wage starts at 21, not 23 or 25. That changed on 1 April 2024.
• The apprentice rate applies to an apprentice aged 19 or over only in the first year of the apprenticeship.
• Someone still under school leaving age has no minimum wage right yet, even though the under-18 rate exists.
• The under-18 and apprentice rate is £8.00 from 1 April 2026. Older rates apply only to pay periods before that date.
• The rates are the same in Northern Ireland. Before an industrial tribunal claim in Northern Ireland, you notify the LRA, not Acas.