How to Report an Employer Paying Below the Minimum Wage (2026/27)

Check what counts as pay and hours, then use the three routes - your employer, the Acas helpline or the HMRC complaint form - with time limits and penalties.

2026/27 tax year

Employment & Career
Employee
UK-wide

Summary

Divide your gross pay for the pay period by the hours you worked; tips, overtime premiums and benefits in kind are left out, and deductions for uniform, tools or other job expenses reduce the pay that counts.
Three routes, in order: raise it with the employer or lodge a grievance, phone the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm), or submit HMRC's online pay and work rights complaint form, which lets you ask for your identity to be withheld.
HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency; a notice of underpayment makes the employer repay arrears and pay a penalty of 200% of the underpayment, capped at £20,000 per worker, halved if all the arrears and half the penalty are paid within 14 days.
Employers owing £500 or more in arrears are considered for public naming; the September 2026 round named nearly 660 employers and returned £4 million to over 27,000 workers.
The tribunal route has a time limit of 3 months minus 1 day from an underpayment paid before 1 October 2026, or 6 months minus 1 day from one paid on or after it, and reaches back 2 years; you cannot use the HMRC form once tribunal action has started, and dismissal for asserting the right can be automatically unfair.

This guide is general information, not advice.

This is for a worker in the UK who suspects a pay packet has fallen below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage in 2026/27: an hourly rate that is too low, a uniform charge, unpaid extra time, an apprentice rate kept on too long, or a rent deduction for accommodation.

By the end you will have checked whether you are underpaid, know which of three routes to use, and know what follows: arrears, a penalty on the employer, public naming, and your own protection from dismissal.

Before you start

Your age and start date, because the rate depends on both. Workers aged 21 and over get the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour; 18 to 20 year olds get £10.85; under 18s get £8.00; apprentices get £8.00 if they are under 19, or 19 and over and in the first year of the apprenticeship (per GOV.UK: rates). Rates change on 1 April.
Payslips for the periods in question, showing gross pay and every deduction.
A record of hours actually worked, including unpaid time you were required to be at work.
Your contract or written statement, for the basic hours and any accommodation or uniform terms. GOV.UK says a contract for pay below the minimum wage is not legally binding and you are still entitled to it (per GOV.UK: who gets the minimum wage).
Your National Insurance number and the employer’s name and address.

Step-by-step

Check you are within the scheme. Workers, agency workers, casual staff, piece workers and apprentices are covered from school leaving age. The self-employed running their own business, company directors, volunteers and family members living in the employer’s home are not (per GOV.UK: who gets the minimum wage).
Work out the pay that counts. Take gross pay for the pay reference period, which is the period you are paid for and “can cover any period of time up to 1 calendar month, but never more than that”. Basic pay, bonuses and performance-related incentive pay count. Tips, gratuities, service charges and cover charges do not; nor does “the premium element” of overtime or shift pay, benefits in kind, or reimbursed expenses. Then subtract deductions for uniforms not supplied by the employer, tools or equipment required for the work, and any deduction for expenses “actually incurred in connection with their employment”. Deductions for Income Tax, National Insurance, student loans and pension contributions do not reduce the pay that counts (per GOV.UK: calculating the minimum wage).
Apply the accommodation offset if you live in. If the employer charges for accommodation, only the excess over the daily offset of £11.10 reduces your pay that counts; the weekly figure is on the same GOV.UK page. No other benefit, such as food, a car or childcare vouchers, counts towards the minimum wage at all (per GOV.UK: accommodation).
Count the hours. GOV.UK splits work into four types: time work paid by the hour, salaried hours, output work paid per item or task, and unmeasured work. Whichever applies, the test is the average hourly rate over the pay reference period (per GOV.UK: different types of work). Acas’s checker page says time travelling to training and time on standby count; holidays and commuting between home and work do not (per Acas: check if you are getting minimum wage). Divide the pay from step 2 by these hours, or use the GOV.UK worker calculator, which also checks “past payments from the previous year”.
Route one: raise it with the employer. Acas says you can raise it informally, and if that fails “you can raise a grievance”, which is a formal complaint to the employer (per Acas: if an employer does not pay minimum wage). Keep a copy and the date.
Route two: the Acas helpline. Call 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. GOV.UK says the helpline covers National Minimum Wage questions and that minimum wage complaints are directed to HMRC (per GOV.UK: pay and work rights).
Route three: HMRC’s online complaint form. Use the pay and work rights complaint form described on GOV.UK (updated 7 April 2026). It covers the National Minimum Wage, agricultural minimum wage, employment agencies and the 48-hour working week. Someone can complain on your behalf, but “HMRC will need to ask for your permission”. To keep your name from the employer, say so on the form. GOV.UK warns: “We cannot take your complaint forward if you’ve already started Tribunal action for a National Minimum Wage issue.”
Or the employment tribunal. Acas says you can claim to a tribunal for unpaid minimum wage within 3 months minus 1 day of when you should have been paid, or of the most recent wrong deduction in a series, and that such a claim can reach back 2 years. For wages paid on or after 1 October 2026 the limit is 6 months minus 1 day: the Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/954) bring the longer limit in from that date and key it on the date the wages were paid, not the date you claim. GOV.UK says you will usually need an Acas early conciliation certificate for each respondent before you claim (per GOV.UK: make a claim). Choose this route or the HMRC route, not both.

Deadlines and what happens next

Who investigates. Since 7 April 2026 the Fair Work Agency is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, and HMRC does the enforcement on its behalf. The agency’s enforcement statement, updated 26 August 2026, describes the outcome of an investigation as a notice of underpayment that “explains what an employer is liable to pay, including the total arrears payable for all workers named on the notice, and any penalty payable” (per Fair Work Agency enforcement statement). GOV.UK’s plain-English page says that if the employer has not been paying the correct rates “any arrears have to be paid back immediately” (per GOV.UK: employers and the minimum wage).

How far back. Acas says HMRC can “issue a notice to pay money owed, going back a maximum of 6 years” (per Acas: if an employer does not pay minimum wage). That is longer than the 2-year reach of a tribunal claim, which is one reason the complaint route can suit older underpayments.

The penalty. The statement says: “The maximum penalty is £20,000 per worker. The penalty is calculated as 200% of the total underpayment for all of the workers specified in an NoU.” The minimum is £100, and it is reduced by 50% if all the unpaid wages and 50% of the penalty are paid in full within 14 days.

Naming. The Department for Business and Trade “considers all cases for naming where the total arrears owed to workers was £500 or more”, with a lower threshold of more than £100 where the employer had prior breaches on the date of the notice. The round announced on 3 September 2026, the first since the agency began, named nearly 660 employers, returned £4 million to over 27,000 workers and issued £7 million in penalties (per GOV.UK news, 3 September 2026).

Prosecution. GOV.UK states it is “a criminal offence for employers to not pay someone the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, or to fake payment records”; the agency considers referral for prosecution “in cases of serious, deliberate or persistent non-compliance”.

Your protection. Acas says dismissal because of the minimum wage entitlement “could be classed as ‘automatically unfair’”, a protection for employees rather than workers, and that an employer must not treat you worse for asserting the right, for instance by bullying, overlooking you for promotion or reducing your hours without cause.

Common mistakes

Counting tips or overtime premiums as pay. Both are excluded, so a rate that looks fine with them included may fail without.
Ignoring a uniform or equipment deduction. It comes off the pay that counts, even where the contract calls it a charge rather than a deduction.
Staying on the apprentice rate after the first year at 19 or over. GOV.UK says the apprentice rate stops once you are 19 and have finished the first year; you are then owed your age-band rate.
Starting a tribunal claim and an HMRC complaint together. GOV.UK says HMRC cannot take the complaint forward once tribunal action has begun.
Missing the tribunal clock. The limit (3 months minus 1 day, or 6 months minus 1 day for pay dated on or after 1 October 2026) runs from the underpayment, not from when you noticed it.

Worked example

You are 24 and paid exactly the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour for 160 hours in a calendar-month pay reference period. Your employer deducts £60 from that month’s pay for a branded uniform it requires you to wear. GOV.UK’s calculating-the-minimum-wage guidance treats a deduction for a uniform the employer did not supply as reducing the pay that counts, so your minimum wage pay for the month is 160 hours at £12.71 less £60, and your average hourly rate is below the rate for your age. You are underpaid by £60 for that month, and for every month the deduction was taken. Income Tax and National Insurance on the same payslip do not reduce the pay that counts and are left out of the check.

National Minimum Wage 2026/27: employer guide - the rates, the four worker types and the penalty regime from the employer’s side.
Hourly calculator - gross to net for any hourly rate and hours.
How to handle tax when you change jobs - if the answer to underpayment is a new employer.

Frequently asked questions

Can I report my employer for minimum wage anonymously?

You can ask for your identity to be withheld. GOV.UK's pay and work rights complaint guidance says that if you do not want HMRC to give the employer information about who made the complaint, you tell them on the form. Someone else can complain on your behalf, but HMRC will need to ask for your permission. Reports made through the Acas helpline are passed to HMRC, which enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency.

Do uniform costs count against the minimum wage?

Yes. GOV.UK's calculating-the-minimum-wage guidance lists deductions for uniforms not supplied by the employer, tools or equipment required for the work, and any deduction for expenses actually incurred in connection with the employment as reductions in pay that counts. Deductions for tax, National Insurance, student loans and pension contributions do not reduce it, and an accommodation charge only reduces it above the daily offset.

How far back can I claim unpaid minimum wage?

It depends on the route. Acas says a tribunal claim for non-payment of the minimum wage can cover money owed going back 2 years, and must be made within 3 months minus 1 day of the underpayment or the most recent one in a series, rising to 6 months minus 1 day where that payment was made on or after 1 October 2026. On the HMRC and Fair Work Agency route, Acas says HMRC can issue a notice to pay money owed going back a maximum of 6 years; the gov.uk worker calculator also checks whether past payments from the previous year are owed.

Can I be sacked for complaining about minimum wage?

Acas says that if you are dismissed because of the minimum wage entitlement this could be classed as automatically unfair, which applies to employees rather than workers, and that an employer must not treat you worse for asserting the right, for example by bullying, overlooking you for promotion or cutting your hours without cause. GOV.UK adds that not paying the minimum wage, or faking payment records, is a criminal offence.

What penalty does an employer pay for underpaying minimum wage?

The Fair Work Agency's enforcement statement, updated 26 August 2026, says a notice of underpayment sets out the arrears for every worker named and a penalty of 200% of the total underpayment, with a maximum of £20,000 per worker and a minimum of £100, reduced by 50% if all the unpaid wages and 50% of the penalty are paid in full within 14 days. Employers owing £500 or more, or more than £100 with prior breaches, are considered for public naming.