How National Minimum Wage rates work

The National Living Wage (NLW) applies to workers aged 21 and over. Younger workers are entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW), which is banded by age, with a separate rate for apprentices. It's a legal minimum — your employer must pay at least this rate for every hour you work, though many employers pay more. Your weekly, monthly and annual gross pay are simply your hourly rate multiplied by your contracted hours, scaled up to 52 weeks a year. If your employer provides accommodation, they can charge up to a daily offset rate without it affecting your minimum wage pay — charge more than that, and the excess counts as a deduction from your pay for compliance purposes, potentially tipping you below the legal minimum even if your cash wage looks fine on paper.