To think I’m not even being paid minimum wage??

[FFRC4th]

Okay, so maths isn’t my strong point but I’m on £20,000 a year (yes I know it’s a crap wage) Going by my payslips, my wage works out at £9.62 an hour, based on a 40 hour week.

I thought the current minimum wage was £10.42, increasing in April to 11.44?

Have they been paying me illegally or have I got the maths wrong?

@Containerhome -yes you have it wrong, because there aren't just 4 weeks each month, but 52 in total each year, so that's £384.60 per week - over £30 less per week than your calculation.

OP, if you do 9-5 or similar 5 days a week but get a proper hour's lunch break, then that works out as a 35 hr week, so £10.98ph before tax and NI. For the tax year 24-25 this will have to go up substantially, as you should be earning 11.44 NMW by then. So if you do 35 hours pw it needs to go up by about 800 but if you do 40 working hours, then you should be paid almost 24k pa to keep in line with NMW.

If you are expected to work through your lunch hours with a sandwich at your desk or to stay later to clear up or come in early to set up, then keep track of those hours. If the actual hours you are expected to work add up to more than 35, you may be legally due a rise.

Months are not 4 weeks - they're usually more.

Better to divide £20k by the 52 weeks of the year = 384.61 per week.

That divided by 40 is £9.61. I'd check re: whether you're actually getting paid for a 7hr day and unpaid lunch hour? If so I'd skip lunch and leave an hour early. Why should you stay 8 hrs for such poor money?