Wages & Pay Rights

National Minimum Wage Floor — Every worker is entitled to the minimum wage; the rate depends on age and apprentice status, workers must be at least school leaving age, and the National Living Wage applies from age 21. Rates change on 1 April every year (GOV.UK).

April 2026 Rates — £12.71 an hour for those aged 21 and over, £10.85 for 18 to 20-year-olds, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices.

Apprentice Rate — Apprentices get the apprentice rate if under 19, or 19+ and in the first year of their apprenticeship; once 19 or over and past the first year, they are entitled to the full rate for their age (so a 21-year-old past year one must get £12.71).

No Unauthorised Deductions — An employer shall not make a deduction from a worker's wages unless it is required or authorised by a statutory provision or a relevant provision of the contract, or the worker has previously signified written agreement or consent (ERA 1996, s.13(1)). In practice this means deductions must be required or allowed by law (National Insurance, income tax, student loan repayments) or agreed in writing.

Underpayment Is a Deduction — Where the total wages paid on any occasion are less than the total properly payable, the deficiency is treated as a deduction (ERA 1996, s.13(3)) — so short-payment, unpaid holiday pay and withheld commission are all claimable as unlawful deductions (Delaney v Staples [1992] 1 AC 687 on the scope of 'wages').

Series of Deductions — For a series of deductions, the three-month tribunal clock runs from the last deduction in the series (ERA 1996, s.23(3)); the Supreme Court in Agnew [2023] UKSC 33 held that gaps of more than three months do not automatically break a series.

Two-Year Backstop — A tribunal cannot consider deductions where the wages were paid more than two years before the claim was presented, for most types of wage claim (ERA 1996, s.23(4A)).