Seems I'm not being paid minimum wage. Is this black & white?

B0bbyEwing

I'm paid a basic hourly rate from 0-40 hours and an overtime rate for anything over 40 hours. These are calculated week on week & then paid once per month. By that I mean if I do 50 hours in weeks 1-3 but say 40 hours in week 4 then my payslip will show 160 hours of basic rate pay and 30 hours of overtime pay.

I picked up my payslip for this month & noticed everything was at my current rate. Let's say £11.50 for the basic pay and say £13.50 for the overtime pay. So I figured that the week running Monday 31st March - Sunday 6th April will be in the next months pay, since the minimum wage is now £12.21 & this rate wasn't displayed on my payslip.

On looking at it now (which weeks are included in which payslips), the week I just mentioned has been included in the payslip I've just picked up - which says to me that I'm not being paid minimum wage, or at least not for a number of hours on that week.


Talking to a co-worker yesterday I just said that I wonder if they'll pay us minimum wage for the Monday (31st March) - to keep things on the payslip cleaner/simpler, or whether they'll hang on until the Tuesday and keep us on £11.50 for the Monday and then elevate to at least £12.21 from the Tuesday onwards. It'd make the payslip a bit messy but I appreciate they don't legally have to do anything other than that.
I don't know whether this co-worker was understanding what I was saying or whether I was misunderstanding where they were coming from but to this they told me they'd spoken to payroll the day previous & was told "we don't legally have to backdate pay any more".

I said my understanding was that whatever they say they can and can't do, from Tuesday 1st April we must be paid at least £12.21 per hour. Unless I've misunderstood the government website, but it seems pretty black and white to me.

So take the week in question and say I did 50 hours for easy round numbers with each of Mon-Fri being 10 hour days.
My understanding is Monday 31st March can be on my rate of £11.50, so 10 hours at that rate.
But as I read the government website, Tues, Weds, Thurs would need to be at at least £12.21 - so 30 hours at this rate.
The only area where I'm not so sure is the final 10 hours for the Friday as this would be over 40 hours. My current overtime rate in this example is £13.50 and my contract says this but I know they legally don't have to pay me beyond £12.21. I guess an hourly rate change is also a contract amendment so I'm guessing that legally the final 10 hours of that week could be at £12.21 despite my contract saying my overtime is at £13.50?


Either way there's absolutely zero mention of £12.21 for the hours I worked 1st-6th April. The basic hours I worked on those days have been paid at £11.50 and the overtime hours I worked on those days has been paid at £13.50.


Have I misunderstood this somewhere & somehow they're actually correct, even though it seems to not fall in line with what the government website says? https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

I'm older than 21.
I'm not an apprentice.

chrisbur

When the new minimum wage is first paid depends on your pay reference period, this can result in the payment starting after the first of April.  Some details here....
https://www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement/when-your-rate-increases 

B0bbyEwing

chrisbur said:

When the new minimum wage is first paid depends on your pay reference period, this can result in the payment starting after the first of April.  Some details here....
https://www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement/when-your-rate-increases 

Thanks. 

That saves me contacting payroll then. It looks like they're clinging on for as long as they can then. 

Marcon

B0bbyEwing said:

chrisbur said:

When the new minimum wage is first paid depends on your pay reference period, this can result in the payment starting after the first of April.  Some details here....
https://www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement/when-your-rate-increases 

Thanks. 

That saves me contacting payroll then. It looks like they're clinging on for as long as they can then. 

No - they are simply correctly implementing the change in rate.

B0bbyEwing

Marcon said:

B0bbyEwing said:

chrisbur said:

When the new minimum wage is first paid depends on your pay reference period, this can result in the payment starting after the first of April.  Some details here....
https://www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement/when-your-rate-increases 

Thanks. 

That saves me contacting payroll then. It looks like they're clinging on for as long as they can then. 

No - they are simply correctly implementing the change in rate.

I never said they're not but they do have the option of paying us from 1st April which they've (legally yes I know before you say it) chosen not to do. 
Multi million pound company, millions in profit so it's not like 1-man Dave struggling to afford to pay his staff. 

But to use the overused phrase, it is what it is.