The National Minimum Wage, overtime, work experience

Anyone who’s defined as a ‘worker’ (including employees and agency workers) is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) – you don’t need a written contract to be eligible.

(updated November 2025)

The National Minimum Wage

The minimum wage is a legal right that covers almost all workers above compulsory school leaving age. There are different minimum wage rates for different age groups of workers as follows:

• Since 1st April 2024 the full rate applies to everyone aged 21 and over.  This is £12.21 from 1st April 2025.
• For workers aged 18 to 20 the rate is £10.00 per hour from 1st April 2025.
• For workers aged 16 to 17 the rate is £7.55 from 1st April 2025.
• The Apprentice rate is £7.55 from 1st April 2025. Apprentices aged 19 or over who’ve spent a year in their apprenticeship must be paid at least the NMW rate applicable to their age.

Agricultural Workers have slightly different rights to other workers, and more details are available here.

Workers who work on ‘piece work’ (or output work) have their NMW calculated slightly differently and you can read more details here.

There’s a government Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368, and a website that offers more advice and information about the NMW.

To see a list of those excluded from the National Minimum Wage, click here.

Here are details of the Voluntary Real Living Wage, which is not a statutory requirement although, in 2025, over 16,000 employers across the UK have signed up to pay their staff at these higher rates.  

The Living Wage rates for 2023-24 were announced on the 24th October 2023 and they are £12, and £13.15 in London. Employers who have signed up to pay the Voluntary Real Living Wage will have 6 months until May 1st 2024 to implement these rates.  The Living Wage rates for 2024-25 were announced on the 23rd October 2024. Employers will need to implement these by May 1st 2025, and the rates increase to £12.60 and £13.85 in London.

When should the National Minimum Wage be paid?

The National Minimum Wage must be paid for all the time a worker is:

• At work when required to be working (even if work isn’t possible because, for example, machinery breaks down, materials haven’t arrived, work isn’t available etc.)
• on standby or on call time at or near their place of work
• Travelling on business during normal working hours – they should be paid for all travel time in connection with their job (not to or from home or work), including travelling from one assignment to another (except if they’re on a rest break), waiting for public transport connections, waiting to collect goods or start a job, travelling from work to training venues (not from home to training venues). This includes waiting to meet someone in connection with work and includes travelling for the purposes of ‘output’ or ‘unmeasured’ work (see below)
• Training (or travelling to training) during their normal working hours, either at their normal place of work or somewhere else. This also applies to workers required to undertake training before starting work for an employer

Unpaid ‘trial shifts’ are frequently news, and the government have guidance on the very limited instances when unpaid work trials may be legal. It’s important that employers are clear when they can ‘test’ applicants by asking them to do work without paying them.

When the National Minimum Wage doesn’t need to be paid

• If workers are being paid less than their normal pay, e.g. if they are entitled to receive half-pay while on sick leave
• If they are taking  unpaid leave (in agreement with their employer)
• If they’re taking industrial action
• If they are ‘On-call’ at home or at another location, when they are not at work and not working (unless they’re actually working from home/the other location during this on-call time, or are called out to attend work during this time)
• If they are travelling between work and home, or home and work (even if they return home during the working day between ‘appointments’)
• If they are travelling between home and work if they’re going to a place that isn’t their normal place of employment (i.e. they don’t get the NMW for any additional travelling time in these circumstances)
• If  a worker lives in their employers homes and shares in the household chores and leisure activities they may not be entitled to the NMW if they’re living with, and being treated as, part of the family (or are a member of the employer’s family), and they aren’t paying the employer for the provision of meals or accommodation. This exemption was repealed and from 1st April 2024 anyone living in their employers homes and working for them (e.g. as an au-pair), but who is not part of the family, must be paid the National Minimum Wage.

If you’re a genuine volunteer or voluntary worker you do not need to be paid the NMW – see our article about volunteering for more information.

The law relating to whether the NMW needs to be paid during ‘sleeping time’ whilst on-call and not working is complex, and case law is changing constantly – please see our updated Guide to ‘sleeping on the job’ here.

Calculating the minimum wage:

Here’s what pay should be taken into account when calculating a worker’s average hourly rate of pay (during a pay reference period):

• Total gross pay (basic salary, any bonus or commission, incentive payments, overtime payments at basic rate) received or earned in that period
• The only benefit in kind that can be taken into account in NMW calculations is where your employer provides a worker with accommodation. The NMW may be ‘offset’ by some of your accommodation’s value. From April 2025, the maximum that can be ‘offset’ is £10.66 per day.. For more details about how this works, please see the Direct Gov page here
• Benefits in kind that don’t count towards the NMW calculation include meals, fuel, car allowances, employers’ contributions to pension schemes, medical insurance, child care vouchers and luncheon vouchers. Overtime payments at ‘premium’ rates are also not included.

Here’s what pay isn’t taken into account when calculating the average hourly rate of pay:

• Any premiums that are paid for overtime or shift work, weekend or bank-holiday working, or on-call/sleep-in shifts generally don’t count towards calculating their salary for the purposes of calculating the NMW
• Tips, service charges, cover charges and gratuities don’t count towards the NMW (so, for example, tips should be paid on top of the minimum wage). New laws on tips were implemented on 1st October 2024, which obliges Employers to fairly allocate all tips, gratuities and service charges to staff, without any deductions – more information is here.
• Expenses for travel to a temporary workplace aren’t included in the calculation of the NMW
• Special allowances paid above standard pay, e.g. for working in dangerous conditions, working unsocial hours, geographical payments (i.e. London Weighting), for performing special duties, don’t count (unless they’re consolidated into the workers standard pay or they’re related to the worker’s normal duties

Types of work:

For National Minimum Wage purposes, there are four different types of work – time work, salaried hours work, output work and unmeasured work.

If you’re employed on ‘time work’ (you’re paid an hourly rate in relation to the time you work and your hours may vary) – you should receive the NMW for all time when you’re:

• at work, performing your duties (excluding rest breaks)
• at work and available for work; required to be available for work on standby, or on-call at/near your place or work and are working
• awake and working during ‘sleeping time’ at work (which is time when you’re allowed to sleep as arranged with your employer, who provides suitable facilities for you to do so near your workplace), and during time spent travelling on business.

In an interesting Employment Appeal Tribunal case, reported in August 2024 (Taylor’s Services Ltd v HMRC), it was found that ‘time workers’ are not entitled to the NMW when travelling to different work sites in a minibus provided by their employer.

You can find more information in our guide to sleeping on the job.

Salaried work

If you’re employed on ‘salaried work’ (you’re paid an annual salary for set hours – in equal instalments – but your hours may vary), you should receive the NMW for all the time when you’re:

• at work performing your duties (excluding rest breaks)
• at work and available for work; working where you’re required to be available for work on standby or on-call at or near your place of work
• awake and working during ‘sleeping time’ at work (which is time when you’re allowed to sleep as arranged with your employer, who provides suitable facilities for you to do so at or near your workplace)
• spending time spent travelling on business.

For ‘salaried’ workers who are paid their normal salary when they’re absent from work, their time of absence counts for National Minimum Wage purposes, e.g. when they are on rest breaks, lunch breaks, holidays, sick leave or maternity leave.

Commission

People who are paid on commission (entirely or partly on the basis of sales or deals made) or on output work/piecework (who are paid according to the amount they produce and don’t have set hours or start/finish times) must still be paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

These workers don’t have to be paid the minimum wage for each hour worked, but they must be paid the minimum wage, on average, for the time worked in their pay ‘reference’ period. This ‘reference’ period is the period of time a worker’s wage is actually calculated, e.g. on a weekly or monthly basis, but cannot be longer than one calendar month. This includes time spent travelling on business and to other work premises (from home, if you’re based there).

Unmeasured Work

If you’re employed in ‘unmeasured work’ (work that’s not covered by any of the other three categories above [time, salaries, commission/outwork]), such as carrying out contractual duties for a flat rate, e.g. a home carer who lives and works in a client’s home before having a break, where there are certain tasks to be done but no specified hours or times when these tasks must be done.

Determining for what hours you should receive the NMW is difficult unless you’re employed on a ‘daily average hours agreement’, which is a written agreement that determines the average number of daily hours the worker is likely to spend on their duties – the NMW should be paid for these hours.

Workers who have entered into a ‘daily hours agreement’ don’t have to be paid the minimum wage for each hour worked, but must be paid the minimum wage on average for the time worked in their pay ‘reference’ period. This ‘reference’ period is the time a worker’s wage is actually calculated, e.g. on a weekly or monthly basis but cannot be longer than one calendar month.

Where a worker hasn’t entered into a ‘daily hours agreement’ but is employed in unmeasured work, their employer must record the hours they work during the pay reference period and pay them for every hour worked. This includes time spent travelling on business and to other work premises (from home, if you’re based at home).

Other information

Agency workers and homeworkers are expressly covered by the NMW.

Apprentices receive the NMW for all their time spent working and training.

Overtime

Overtime normally means any hours worked over and above your normal contractual working hours.  However, there are different types of overtime:

• Guaranteed overtime – an employer is required to offer overtime
• Non-guaranteed overtime – an employer does not have to offer overtime
• Voluntary overtime – an employee is not required to do any over-time but can accept it if they wish
• Compulsory overtime – an employee is required to do any over-time offered by the Employer.

There’s no legal right to pay employees for working extra hours. However, there are some extra caveats and clauses you need to be aware of when it comes to working overtime:

• If your contract guarantees paid overtime, you should be paid for this. If your contract doesn’t mention the exact rate to be paid, a reasonable rate for the overtime should be paid. If your contract doesn’t mention a right to be paid for overtime, there’s no right to be paid, unless an oral promise has been made
• Your average pay mustn’t be below the minimum wage
• Some employers may offer you ‘time off in lieu’ instead of pay for overtime
• Overtime worked may or may not be taken into account when calculating holiday payor paid maternity, paternity or adoption leave. It will depend on whether overtime is specified in your contract of employment.
• You only need to work overtime if your contract includes it, and you shouldn’t work more than 48 hours per week (see Working Time Regulations guide)
• Your employer cannot stop you working overtime if your contract guarantees it
• There are special rules for Sunday working – see Gov.uk page for more information.

Acas have produced a comprehensive guide to overtime which you can read here.

Unpaid work experience/interns

The minimum wage legislation can make unpaid work experience/internships a grey area, as anyone defined as a ‘worker’ is entitled to a minimum wage. Government guidelines say that if someone is taken on solely as a volunteer, for the reason of giving them skills/training, rather than in a normal employee-employer relationship, this can be unpaid – as long as they have no set hours, are under no obligation to perform the work and can come and go freely.

Students doing work experience as part of a higher or further education course aren’t entitled to the minimum wage if the work experience they undertake is for under a year’s duration.

You can read more information about internships here.

Workers rights and Keeping Records

The government runs a Pay and Work Rights Helpline which can advise you about the NMW: 0800 917 2368. You can report NMW abuses to them on this number; and their website is here.

Employer must keep records that show they’ve paid the NMW for six years, and workers have the right to inspect these records if they’ve reasonable grounds to believe they’ve not been paid the NMW.

Workers also have a right not to be subjected to any detriment from their employer for any action taken to enforce their statutory right to be paid the NMW.

The National Minimum Wage Regulations are enforced by the HMRC, who employ compliance and enforcement officers and prosecute employers for not abiding by the NMW.