Minimum wage check across your payroll
Is anyone paid below the legal minimum for their age, now or after next April?
Upload a payroll with age bands or dates of birth. Ask Orrery checks each hourly rate against the rate for the person's band now and from next April, and lists anyone below, by how much and for how many hours.
When people use it: Every April, after birthdays that move someone to a higher band, and before an audit.
How it works, step by step
Upload the payroll
Include age band or date of birth: the rate for 18 to 20 year olds is lower, and people move up on their 21st birthday.
Ask for the check
Ask Orrery lists each person below the rate for their band and the shortfall for the month.
Next April
Run the same check against the April 2027 range so nobody falls below on day one.
What you upload
- A payroll with hourly rate and age band or date of birth
- For home care: a visit log or travel time, since travel counts as working time
Files are stored privately for your account, never shared with anyone and never used to train AI. You can delete them at any time. Spreadsheets, CSV, PDF and Word files all work, in your own layout.
Try it with sample files
Made up files for a made up provider, Example Care Group, so you can see what Ask Orrery does with them.
Questions you can ask
- “Check my Example House September payroll against the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage for each person's age band. List anyone paid below, by how much, and the arrears for the month.”
- “Who needs a rise next April just to stay legal, and what does it cost?”
Ask the data in plain English
A real question and answer from Ask Orrery, the assistant inside the platform, using the Example Care Group sample files above (October 2026). It works from your files and Orrery's data, and shows its sources.
One person is paid below the National Living Wage in September: Sam Vaughan (E130). I can't check the two 18 to 20 year olds, because I have no source for the 18 to 20 rate.
This check uses your Example House payroll September 2026 file. The 21 and over rate is £12.71 an hour from April 2026 (Orrery policy timeline, National Living Wage).
Below the rate (21 and over)
- Sam Vaughan, care assistant, is paid £12.40 on weekdays, which is £0.31 an hour short.
- Weekend pay is £12.90, which is above the rate.
- Holiday and training hours are paid at the weekday rate, so they are short too.
- That makes 176.15 hours at £12.40 (158.75 weekday, 14.4 holiday, 3 training).
- Arrears for September: £54.61 (176.15 × £0.31).
Everyone else aged 21 and over is at or above £12.71 on every rate. I checked the salaried managers by dividing their monthly pay by contracted hours. They come out well above the rate. Sickness is paid as SSP outside the sheet, so it isn't in these figures.
Not confirmed (18 to 20)
- Dina Thomas (E125) and Fay Hughes (E126) are paid £10.85 weekday and £11.35 weekend.
- Check the current 18 to 20 rate on gov.uk. If it is above £10.85, the shortfall applies to their weekday-rate hours.
- Dina has 80.75 such hours, so each 1p of shortfall is £0.81.
- Fay has 70.5 such hours, so each 1p is £0.71.
- Their weekend rate is £0.50 higher, so check that too.
- No 16 to 17 year olds or apprentices appear in the file.
This is a check of your file, not legal advice. Confirm arrears with your payroll provider. I have only checked September, so Sam's earlier months may also be short. I can check those if you want.
Open in Orrery: /app/guides/minimum-wage-check?council=england. For the April 2027 rise, see /app/guides/nlw-april?council=england.
Ask, chart and report, in plain English
Ask Orrery answers from Orrery's data and your own files, draws charts on request and builds reports you can save as PDF. These are real examples made with the sample files.
- A rate that was right last year can be wrong this year: missed birthdays and missed April changes are the common causes.
- In home care, unpaid travel time between visits can take average pay below the minimum even when the hourly rate is above it.
- This is a check of the figures in your files, not legal advice; confirm any arrears with your payroll provider.
Answer this with your own files
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