Welcome to the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) national minimum wage pages.
Most adult workers who:
From pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2006 the special rules for apprentices will be extended to apprentices aged over 25. This will mean that:
There are three levels of minimum wage, and the rates from 1 October 2009 are:
The development rate for workers age 22 and over was abolished for pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2006. From that date, all workers aged 22 and over who qualify for the national minimum wage will be entitled to the main rate of national minimum wage. This applies even where the worker was previously in receipt of the development rate for those aged 22 and over and had been receiving that rate for less than six months.
In England and Wales: a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the last Friday of June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.
In Scotland: pupils whose 16th birthday falls between 1 March and 30 September may not leave before the 31 May of that year. Pupils aged 16 on or between 1 October and the last day of February may not leave until the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year.
In Northern Ireland: a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the 30th June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.
The daily rate of the accommodation offset is £4.51 (£31.57 per week) for each day that accommodation is provided.
The role of HMRC is to enforce the national minimum wage. We do that by responding to complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, and by visiting a sample of employers about whom no complaints have been made, to check that all employers meet their obligations under the National Minimum Wage Act.
There are two key aspects to our approach to enforcement:
There are a number of ways in which you can make a complaint about the non-payment of the minimum wage:
