Guidance

Guidance notes for workers about National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage — NMW FS4

Updated 30 April 2026

We’ve given you this factsheet because we’re checking if your employer has paid you and other workers the correct rate of National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW). Where we mention NMW in this factsheet, we also mean the NLW.

NMW is the minimum amount employers must legally pay their workers. Employers are responsible for making sure their workers are paid the correct rate of NMW. They must keep records to show they’ve done this.

We’re working in partnership with the Fair Work Agency and are responsible for making sure employers pay their workers the correct rate of NMW. We do this under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Employment Rights Act 2025. These Acts explain the legal framework that entitles workers to receive NMW and give HM Revenue and Customs the power to enforce payment of NMW.

For more information about the FWA, go to GOV.UK and search ‘Fair Work Agency’.

Our role

We’re carrying out a check into your employer. As part of our check we’ll talk to you and other workers.

Under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and the Employment Rights Act 2025 we can speak to anyone we believe can provide any information we need for enforcement purposes. This includes employers, training providers and workers. This helps us get the information we need to decide if workers have been paid at least the NMW. We can ask for:

• information we think will show if someone is a worker and if they’re being paid at least the NMW
• explanations of anything in an employer’s records
• more information we need to work out if the employer has paid workers the correct rate of NMW
• information about the working patterns of employees and how they’re paid
• information to help us understand the background and operation of the employer’s business

What we’ll do

We’ll carry out our check by gathering the information we need to help us decide if you’re entitled to the NMW. If you are, we’ll check your employer has paid you the right amount.

We may ask you for information to help us understand the NMW position. We may also ask you for copies of documents you have, such as payslips or timesheets.

You may receive a follow-up call from us. If you’re unsure if this is a genuine contact from HM Revenue and Customs, go to GOV.UK and search ‘Check a list of genuine HMRC contacts’.

We’ll contact your employer and interview them to ask for their records showing the number of hours you’ve worked and the wage they’ve paid you.

We can only talk to you about your own matters. We can’t talk to you about any other workers.

During our check we’ll tell you about the progress we make. We’ll look at all the information we get and make our decision. If we find you haven’t been paid the right amount, we’ll work out the amount you’re owed and send a notice of underpayment (NoU) to your employer. This NoU tells your employer they must pay you the amount they owe. We’ll write to you when we’ve sent this NoU to your employer.

What we need from you

During our check we may need to contact you. Please tell us if you change your name, postal address, email address or phone number.

If you’re still employed, it would help if you could keep a record of the hours you’ve worked to show us. If we ask you to send us copies of any payslips or your contract of employment, please do so.

If you need to write to us, please quote the CFS reference number on the enclosed letter.

Please tell the officer dealing with your case if your employer pays you any of the money you’re owed.

Authorising someone to speak on your behalf

If you want to appoint an adviser to act for you, you’ll need to send us a form 64-8 ‘Authorising your agent’. To fill this form in online, go to GOV.UK and search ‘64-8’.

You can also phone the officer who wrote to you and they’ll send you a copy. You’ll find their phone number on the letter they sent to you.

More information

Your rights and obligations

The HMRC Charter explains what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. For more information, go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC Charter’.

If you need help

If you have any health or personal circumstances that may make it difficult for you to deal with us, please tell the officer who contacted you. We’ll help you in whatever way we can. For more details, go to GOV.UK and search ‘Get help from HMRC if you need extra support’.  

You can ask someone else to deal with us on your behalf, for example, a professional adviser, friend or relative. We may however still need to talk or write to you directly about some things. If we need to write to you, we’ll send a copy of our letter to the person you’ve asked us to deal with. If we need to talk to you, they can be with you when we do, if you prefer.

Our privacy notice

Our privacy notice sets out the standards you can expect from us when we ask for information or hold information about you. To read this go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC Privacy Notice’.