National Minimum Wage common errors

The government has released a list of the most frequent causes of National Minimum Wage (NMW) underpayment, along with guidance on how to avoid them, to accompany the recently approved increases in the NMW. This checklist outlines the key reasons for non-compliance and provides links to additional resources.

1. Making wage deductions or taking payments from workers, for items or expenses that are connected with the job. See Deductions from pay and payments by workers that reduce minimum wage pay)

2. Making wage deductions or taking payments from workers for the employer’s own use or benefit where the employer is free to use that money in any way they wish. See Deductions or payments for the employer’s own use and benefit)

3. Failure to pay for any additional time added on to a worker’s shift, for example team handovers between shifts or time spent passing through security checks on entry and exit. See Working hours for which the minimum wage must be paid)

4. Failure to pay a worker for any time during their shift when they are at the workplace and required to be available for work, (even if no work is being provided at that time during their shift). See Working hours for which the minimum wage must be paid)

5. Failure to pay a worker for any travelling time. See Time spent travelling on business.

6. Failure to pay a worker for any time spent training. See Working hours for which the minimum wage must be paid)

7. Failure to pay sufficient money for any time worked during a sleep-in shift. See Sleep-in shifts)​

8. Incorrectly applying the minimum wage accommodation offset when an employer provides living accommodation to a worker. See Accommodation Offset)

9. Paying the minimum wage apprentice rate when the worker isn’t a genuine apprentice. See Apprentices)

10. Paying the minimum wage apprentice rate before a worker starts their apprenticeship or after it ends See Apprentices