National Minimum Wage Compliance Checker

Current UK minimum wage rates (2026/27)

Rates change each April. Always pay the new rate from the start of the first pay reference period that begins on or after 1 April.

Who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage?

NMW covers workers, not just employees. That includes part-time and casual staff, agency workers, most apprentices, paid trainees, piece workers and home workers. It does not cover the genuinely self-employed, volunteers, company directors with no contract, students on a required work placement of up to a year, or members of the armed forces. If you classify someone as self-employed but control their hours, equipment and output, HMRC will treat them as a worker for NMW purposes regardless of the contract label.

What counts as working time for NMW

• • Time spent working, including overtime — paid or unpaid.
• • Training time that the employer requires, on or off site.
• • Travel between assignments during the working day (not the commute from home).
• • Time on standby or "on call" at the workplace, even when no work is happening.
• • Time spent waiting to start work, collect materials, or undergo security checks at the end of a shift.
• • Sleep-in shifts where the worker is required to be available, except where statute or recent case law treats availability for sleep as unmeasured time — the HMRC position changes; check before relying on it.

Common causes of NMW underpayment

Most employers HMRC names did not deliberately pay below the rate. They tripped over one of these:

• • Unpaid working time — security checks, mandatory pre-shift handovers, locking up.
• • Deductions for uniform, tools or training — anything bought from the employer or required for the role reduces NMW pay even if the wage slip looks compliant.
• • Salary sacrifice schemes — pension or cycle-to-work that drops gross pay below the hourly floor.
• • Apprentice rate misuse — keeping someone on the apprentice rate past their first year or after they turn 19.
• • Birthday rate changes missed — failing to uplift on the first pay reference period after an 18th or 21st birthday.
• • Tips and service charge — these never count towards NMW, even if paid through payroll.
• • Accommodation offset — charging more than the daily offset (£10.66 in 2026/27) creates a notional underpayment.

Salaried hours workers

For salaried staff, divide annual salary by the contracted basic annual hours, then compare against the appropriate NMW rate. If the worker performs more hours than the annual contract allows in a pay reference period, you must top up to NMW for the excess hours, even though they sit inside the annual salary. Bonus and commission count towards NMW in the pay reference period when they are paid, not when they are earned.

Enforcement, arrears and penalties

HMRC's National Minimum Wage team can investigate up to six years of pay records on a worker's complaint or on a risk-based audit. If they find underpayment they will issue a Notice of Underpayment requiring you to repay arrears at the current rate (not the rate at the time), plus a penalty of 200% of the arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker. Employers underpaying by £500 or more across the investigation period are routinely named by the Department for Business and Trade. Workers can also bring an unlawful deduction from wages claim in the employment tribunal in parallel.

If you discover an underpayment

1. Stop the underpayment in the next pay reference period.
2. Calculate arrears at current NMW rates, not historic.
3. Pay arrears as additional wages — never as a one-off bonus, which attracts different tax.
4. Document the cause and the correction in writing for each affected worker.
5. Self-correct before HMRC contacts you — penalties still apply on investigation but voluntary disclosure reduces risk of naming.