Minimum Wage Calculator
Check if your pay meets the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage for 2025/26. Calculate your effective hourly rate, see how unpaid overtime affects your pay, and compare all age band rates.
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How to Use This Calculator
Am I Paid Enough? tab
Select your age band (21+, 18-20, under 18, or apprentice) and enter either your annual salary or hourly rate, plus your weekly hours. The calculator works out your effective hourly rate and tells you whether you meet the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage for your age group. If you are underpaid, it shows the annual and weekly shortfall.
Hours Check tab
Enter your annual salary, contracted hours, and actual hours worked (including unpaid overtime). See how working beyond your contract pushes your effective hourly rate down — and whether it drops below the legal minimum. This is especially useful for salaried workers who regularly work through lunch or stay late.
Age Bands tab
View all current NLW and NMW rates in one table with full-time annual equivalents. Enter your salary to compare it against every age band and see how much above or below each rate you fall.
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Every input is encoded in the URL. Click Share to send your exact scenario to a colleague, union rep, or save it for later.
The Formula
The effective hourly rate calculation is straightforward:
For example:
£24,000 ÷ (40 × 52) = £24,000 ÷ 2,080 = £11.54/hour
Annual Underpayment = (Minimum Wage − Effective Rate) × Weekly Hours × 52
With unpaid overtime:
Actual Hourly Rate = Annual Salary ÷ (Actual Hours Worked × 52)
The key insight is that all hours worked count, not just contracted hours. If you are paid a salary but regularly work unpaid overtime, your effective hourly rate drops. HMRC uses total hours worked when assessing minimum wage compliance.
The accommodation offset allows employers who provide living accommodation to count up to £10.66 per day (from April 2025) towards minimum wage pay. This is the only benefit that counts — other non-cash benefits like meals, uniforms, or transport do not count towards minimum wage.
Example
Tom — 25, earning £24,000/year on a 40-hour contract but regularly works 47 hours
Tom is a retail manager earning £24,000 per year. His contract says 40 hours per week, but he regularly stays late for stocktakes and works through lunch breaks, averaging 47 hours per week.
At contracted hours (40/week)
At actual hours (47/week)
Tom's salary of £24,000 ÷ (40 × 52) = £11.54/hour — already below the NLW of £12.21. At his actual 47 hours: £24,000 ÷ (47 × 52) = £9.82/hour, significantly below minimum wage. Tom's employer needs to either increase his pay or reduce his hours to comply with the law.