Apprentice*  U18   18-20   21 and over
£7.55       £7.55  £10     £12.21
*If under 19 or in first year of apprenticeship (otherwise refer to age bands).

Statutory Sick Pay increases from £116.75 to £118.75 per week.

Parenting pay (maternity, paternity, adoption pay) rises from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.

Who gets it – and who doesn’t?

• It’s a criminal offence to not pay someone the National Minimum Wage
• It applies to most workers over school leaving age including casuals, part-timers and agency workers
• All businesses must comply – regardless of size

• It doesn’t apply to self-employed people or company directors

Why NMW matters to employers

If your company has underpaid its workers, the consequences could be severe:

Arrears

You must pay arrears to the worker immediately and you may end up paying more than you would have if you had paid the correct amount to start with. In one instance, a national retailer was forced to make back payments of £193,000 for almost 3,500 workers after it required them to be at work before and after opening hours without pay.

Naming and shaming

HMRC will now publicly name any employer, big or small, who breaks minimum wage law.

Penalties and prosecution

On top of the arrears, employers risk financial penalties of up to £20,000.

Criminal prosecution is rare but the most serious cases can be heard in a Crown Court, meaning that there’s a potential for an unlimited fine.

How is NMW enforced?

HMRC have the power to check your wages at any time – it’s your responsibility as an employer to keep records proving compliance with NMW and you have to keep these for 3 years.  You could be randomly targeted or a worker’s complaint could trigger an investigation.

Where can I get more help?

The rates change in April each year. Rates for previous years can be found at gov.uk.

A good payroll provider will watch out for NMW compliance issues as part of the service.

• ACAS 0300 123 1100 (Mon to Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-1pm)

ACAS gives free impartial advice to employers and workers.

• Pay and Work Rights at Gov.UK

Follow this link to report NMW breaches.

This article updated Oct 2024.

Image credit: University of Liverpool Faculty of Health (CC BY 2.0)

Apprentice*  U18   18-20   21 and over
£6.40       £6.40  £8.60   £11.44
*If under 19 or in first year of apprenticeship (otherwise refer to age bands).

Statutory Sick Pay increases from £109.40 to £116.75 per week.

Parenting pay (maternity, paternity, adoption pay) rises from £172.48 to £184.03 per week.

There are 3 tasks you must carry out to meet your legal duties.

1. Assess your staff

If your staff meet the criteria below, you must put them into a pension scheme and pay into it.

• Aged 22 or over (up to state pension age)
• Earn at least £10,000 a year

2. Inform your staff

You must write to all your staff within 6 weeks of your duties start date. This tells them how automatic enrolment applies to them – regardless of whether or not they are put into the pension scheme.

3. Declare your compliance

Within 5 months of your duties start date, you must complete an online declaration of compliance. This tells The Pensions Regulator how you’ve met your legal duties.

Then every 3 years, you must re-enrol anyone who opted out and re-declare your compliance.

Workplace pensions are not a one-off effort.

• Employers (or their payroll agents) must continuously assess the workforce.
• Exchanging information with the pension provider every pay period.
• Reconciling and paying contributions.

These tasks will increase the cost of running your payroll.

A Bristol man got a letter to say he owed over £14 TRILLION in tax!

Imagine getting home from the pub and opening that brown envelope.

https://metro.co.uk/2016/08/10/rail-worker-gets-tax-bill-for-14301369864489-6059075/