Minimum wage checker

Enter your age and say whether you are an apprentice in the first year of your apprenticeship. Then enter your hourly pay, or what you were paid for a week or a month and the hours you worked. The calculator shows the minimum hourly rate for you, whether your pay reaches it and, if it does not, how much you are short each week.

Your pay is below the legal minimum

£45.38

£1.21 an hour short of the £12.71 minimum for your age — £45.38 a week at your hours

Your details

Your age In whole years

Apprentice in the first year? No Yes, in my first year The apprentice rate covers apprentices under 19, and those aged 19 or over in the first year

How will you tell us your pay? An hourly rate Pay and hours for a week Pay and hours for a month A pay period is never longer than 31 days

Your hourly pay

Before tax, for an hour

Hours a week Your usual hours in a week

CalculateReset

Your pay against the minimum

	Amount
Your hourly pay	£11.50
National Living Wage, 21 and over	£12.71
Short an hour	£1.21
Your hours a week	37.5
Short a week	£45.38

How this was worked out

1. Your age: 21
2. The rate that applies: the National Living Wage, for workers aged 21 and over, at £12.71 an hour
3. Your hourly pay: £11.50 an hour
4. Short an hour: £12.71 − £11.50 = £1.21
5. Hours a week: 37.5
6. Short a week: £1.21 × 37.5 = £45.38

Was this right and useful?

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What the calculator assumes

• The pay is for work done from 1 April 2026, when this year's rates started.
• You are a worker who is entitled to the minimum wage, and you are at least school leaving age.
• The pay you enter is before tax and National Insurance, and it includes no tips, service charges or extra pay for unsocial hours.
• The hours you enter are all the hours you worked in that pay period.
• The weekly shortfall is the gap between your hourly pay and the minimum rate, multiplied by your hours for a week.

Which rate is yours

The rate depends on your age and on whether you are an apprentice. Workers aged twenty-one and over get the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour. There are lower rates for workers aged eighteen to twenty and for those under eighteen.

Apprentices under nineteen get the apprentice rate. So do apprentices aged nineteen or over while they are in the first year of their apprenticeship. Once the first year is over, an apprentice who is nineteen or older is owed the same rate as anyone else their age, which is why the calculator asks both questions.

A contract that pays less than the minimum wage does not change the rule. GOV.UK says such a contract is not legally binding, and you are still owed the minimum rate.

Checking a week or a month of pay

If you are paid a salary, or a mix of hours and shifts, the calculator divides your pay for the period by the hours you worked in it. The law works in the same way. You must be paid at least the minimum rate on average across each pay period, which is usually the week or month you are paid for and is never longer than 31 days.

Some deductions pull your pay below the line even when the hourly rate looks fine. GOV.UK gives the example of a worker who pays to rent a uniform. That rent comes off the pay that counts, and the worker ends up under the minimum. The same applies to tools or safety equipment you buy for the job and do not get back.

If your pay is below the minimum

GOV.UK says to talk to your employer first. You can ask in writing to see your pay records. Acas runs a confidential helpline, and you can complain to HMRC, which enforces the minimum wage and can make an employer pay what it owes. You can also go to an employment tribunal.

What it leaves out

• Accommodation your employer provides, which can count towards your pay up to a daily limit.
• Rates for work before 1 April 2026.
• The detailed rules on working time, such as travel between jobs, time on call and sleep-in shifts.
• People who are not entitled to the minimum wage, such as the self-employed, company directors and volunteers.

The minimum wage rates page lists this year's rates and shows what the National Living Wage comes to for a week, a month and a year. To turn an hourly rate into a salary, use the hourly rate calculator. If you work part time, the pro rata calculator scales a full-time salary to your hours. To see what minimum wage pay leaves you with after tax, try the take-home pay calculator.

Official guidance

• National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates on GOV.UK
• The National Minimum Wage and Living Wage on GOV.UK

Report a mistake

We will receive the page address and the tax year. We will not receive the figures you entered.

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