Deductions, hours and complaints
Who gets the minimum wage, and who is left out
If you think you are a worker, enter one pay period: the checker shows the rate for your age and whether the pay that counts reaches it.
Paid at least the minimum wage
£65.00
an hour counted, against a minimum of £12.71
| Rate that applies | National Living Wage (21 and over) |
| Rates in force | April 2026 to March 2027 |
| Minimum for 30 hours | £381.30 |
| Pay that counts | £1,950 |
| Same pay from 1 April 2027 | still enough |
Rule applied: National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, as HMRC explains them in its guidance on calculating the minimum wage. An estimate from what you enter, not a decision by HMRC or a tribunal.
The minimum wage is owed to every worker who is above compulsory school leaving age, which is usually 16, unless one of a short list of exemptions applies. A worker is anyone who works under a contract of employment or under any other contract to do work personally, whether that contract is written, spoken or simply implied by turning up and doing the job. Part-time, casual, short-term, zero hours, agency and home workers are all covered. From 1 April 2026 the legal floor is £12.71 an hour at 21 and over, £10.85 at 18 to 20 and £8.00 at 16 and 17 or on the apprentice rate. The people left out are mainly the genuinely self-employed, volunteers, company directors with no work contract, family members living in the employer's home, the armed forces, prisoners working under prison rules, share fishermen, students on a placement their course requires for up to 1 year, and people on a Jobcentre Plus work trial of 6 weeks or less. No agreement can switch the right off: a worker cannot sign it away.
What an unpaid trial shift is worth
Minimum due for the trial
£86.80
| Rate | £10.85 (National Minimum Wage (18 to 20)) |
| From 1 April 2027 | £90.16 |
Due when the trial goes beyond a genuine short test of skills and you do real work for the business.
Rates and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Worker or self-employed: the question that decides
The rate tables only matter once you know you are a worker. The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 uses a wide meaning: an employee, or anyone who has agreed to do work or provide a service personally for someone else who is not their own client or customer. The label in the paperwork is not decisive. HMRC looks at what really happens day to day, and the meaning of worker here can differ from the one used for income tax.
Several signs point towards self-employment, and none settles the matter alone. Someone who bears the risk of a loss and can increase their profit, brings their own tools and materials, may send a substitute instead of turning up, is free to work for other people, and decides how, when and how long they work, looks like a business. Someone whose tax and National Insurance are taken before payment, who must attend in person and faces discipline for not turning up, and who is promised a flow of work, looks like a worker. The GOV.UK page on worker status describes the same tests in general terms.
Who is in, who is out
| Situation | Minimum wage? | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time, casual, short contract, zero hours | Yes | They work under a contract like any other worker |
| Agency worker | Yes | Treated as having a contract with whoever pays them, agency or hirer |
| Home worker | Yes | The need to do the work in person is lifted for home workers |
| Offshore and in UK waters | Yes, in most cases | Special orders extend the law to rigs, ports and UK waters |
| Genuinely self-employed | No | Runs a business for clients |
| Volunteer, or voluntary worker for a charity | No | No contract, or only expenses and limited benefits |
| Company director without a work contract | No | Office holder, not a worker |
| Family member living in the employer's home | No | Lives there and shares family tasks |
| Student on a required course placement | No | UK further or higher education, up to 1 year |
| Pupil below school leaving age | No | Usually under 16 |
| Erasmus+ participant | No | Work done as part of the programme |
| Jobcentre Plus work trial | No | 6 weeks or less |
| Armed forces, prisoners, share fishermen | No | Excluded by name |
Government pre-apprenticeship schemes and other defined training or job-seeking programmes are also outside the rules. Once someone does qualify, the rate depends on age and apprenticeship, from £8.00 to £12.71 an hour in 2026; the rates by age page sets out each band.
Agency, home and offshore workers
When an agency places you with a client business, the Act deems you to have a worker's contract with whichever of the two pays you. The minimum wage cannot fall into a gap between them. Separate rules on employment businesses also require an agency to pay you for the hours you worked even if the client has not yet paid the agency. The page on zero hours and agency work covers timesheets, umbrella company charges and travel between assignments.
Home workers who assemble, pack or produce items at home are covered even where the work does not have to be done by them personally, which would otherwise rule them out. The law also reaches workers on oil rigs and platforms in the UK sector of the continental shelf, and workers on ships in UK ports and internal waters, whatever their nationality or the ship's flag.
Age: the one limit that is not about status
Nobody below compulsory school leaving age is entitled, even if they do real work. The leaving date depends on the nation where the child is at school: in England and Wales it is the last Friday in June for those who are 16 by the end of the summer holidays, while Scotland and Northern Ireland use other dates. From that date the 16 to 17 rate applies in full. The under 16 page gives the date for any birthday.
Trials, internships and volunteering
Three situations cause most disputes, because the person is often told they are not working. An unpaid trial shift is lawful only while it remains a short, genuine test of skills. An internship is paid at the minimum wage whenever the intern is in fact a worker, whatever the advert says. A volunteer must really be free to come and go, with no reward beyond expenses; someone who is paid, or trained beyond what the role needs, in return for set duties may be a worker. The tool below shows what a trial would be worth at the legal rate; the trial shift page and the internship page explain where the line falls.
What an unpaid trial shift is worth
Minimum due for the trial
£152.52
| Rate | £12.71 (National Living Wage (21 and over)) |
| From 1 April 2027 | £158.52 |
Due when the trial goes beyond a genuine short test of skills and you do real work for the business.
If you are a worker and think you were paid too little, the gap is owed whether or not you still work there. The page on reporting underpayment sets out the steps.