> Payroll tasks / Paying people / Paying employees / Minimum wage check / Paying the minimum wage

Paying the minimum wage

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You can set up your software to check that your employees are being paid the minimum wage. This includes the rate for apprentices. When you use the Enter Payments option to process your payroll, the software identifies if an employee's salary falls below the specified minimum wage. You can then increase one of their payments to make up the shortfall.

Note: Paying the national minimum wage (NMW) is a legal requirement of employers and covers the majority of workers who are above the compulsory school leaving age. As an employer, you should understand your statutory obligations for paying the minimum wage. For help, visit HMRC national minimum wage web page.

You can:


To set up the minimum wage check

So that your software can accurately perform the minimum wage check, you must complete the following tasks:

Note: Before you set up your software, please read the information provided in the Questions and Answers section.

Check the softwareOpen this section

Check that the software is using the correct minimum wage legislation.

Set up payments and deductionsOpen this section

Include the default rate and hours/no details of the existing payments & deductions you want to use in the minimum wage check.

Set up employeesOpen this section

Record which employees are included in the minimum wage check (including those employed as apprentices).


To apply the minimum wage

  1. From the employee list select the employees you want to process > Payroll > Enter Payments.
  2. Enter your employee's payment information into the boxes provided > Click Save/Next.

    If the employee's salary is below the minimum wage, the Minimum Wage window appears.

  3. From the drop-down list, select the payment you want to change > Adjust.

    Note: The drop-down list only contains payments that have been set up with a status of Variable. To ensure the minimum wage calculation is performed correctly, the payment you adjust must have the same rate recorded in both Enter Payments and the Employee's Record.

    If these values are different, your employees may not be paid correctly. If the payment you want to adjust is used as a base for any factored payment, this part of the factored payment is also adjusted automatically.


Need more help? You may find the Questions and Answers section useful.


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