National Minimum Wage – Current Minimum Wages Rate
Working hard all day and still not earning enough to live off? If you are aged 21 or over then your employer must pay you a wage of at least £6.19 an hour (rate from October 2012), regardless of the job you do.
If you are unsure of your hourly rate, look at your payslip and divide your gross pay (before deductions) by the number of hours worked in the period (week or month) that the pay slip applies to. This figure must be at least £6.19 an hour.
Some younger workers are also entitled to a minimum wage but at a lower level. 18-20 year olds must recieve a minimum of £4.98 per hour and 16 and 17-year olds must be paid at least £3.68 an hour. Apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship are entitled to at least £2.65 an hour. However, there is no minimum wage for people of compulsory school age. These amounts were last set in October 2012.
If you are not getting NMW you can call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 562 561. For more information visit their website GOV.UK.
How much?
If you would like to know whether you are entitled to the National Minimum Wage, and how much that should be for the hours you work, then try our online calculator. It will ask you a few questions and work out which of the three wage rates you should be paid at.
Frequently Asked Questions
Check out our National Minimum Wage section for answers to your questions on the minimum wage.
Other sources of information
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