If you’re a fan of Martin Lewis (and you should be) then you might have heard that his latest Money Saving Expert newsletter has been advising Brits to check their payslips.
While much of his advice centres on how to save money and find better deals on various bits of finance you need to deal with, he’s also recommending ways for you to get more money in the first place.
It’s just money you ought to have been getting anyway, as those who are paid at or near the national living wage are in danger of not being given what they should be earning.
The Money Saving Expert team noted that ‘even the big names get it wrong’ as according to a report from the government last year 524 businesses were named for not paying enough in wages, with thousands of workers affected and about £16 million ordered to be paid out.
Workers who are aged 21 and over currently must be paid £11.44 an hour, but that will rise in April this year.
The minimum wage you can pay under 18s and apprentices in the UK is £6.40, while those aged 18 to 20 have a minimum wage of £8.60.
In the latest Money Saving Expert newsletter, they noted the coming rise in the national living wage as a reason for it to be ‘even more important all those on lower incomes don’t just assume their employers are following the rules’.
From April 2025, the national living wage for people aged 21 and over is going to be £12.21 an hour, but if you’re on that and your pay doesn’t increase appropriately then you’ll end up being underpaid, so it’s worth calculating how much you should be getting and seeing if your revised payslip matches up.
Meanwhile, the national minimum wage for under 18s is increasing to £7.55 and 18 to 20-year-olds will be getting a crisp £10 an hour.
Martin Lewis‘ team has explained that if the cost of certain materials or your uniform comes out of your wages then that shouldn’t pull your earnings below the legal limit, while in jobs where you might receive tips they can’t be used to ‘top up’ a base rate of pay that sits below the national living wage.
If your employer is providing you with accommodation, then the most your weekly earnings can drop below the threshold is £69.93.
He explained that if you’ve been underpaid, then you’re entitled to up to six years of back pay.
Last month, the Low Pay Commission released a report saying that in April 2024 there were over 370,000 Brits who may have been underpaid, with around 140,000 being underpaid by more than 50p per hour.
Some of the main causes of underpayment include deductions from the payslip and people working unpaid hours which drags their actual pay rate down.
Also among the reasons were also employers failing to update their wages to keep up with minimum wage rises, so it’s certainly worthwhile to actually work out how much you should be paid and how much work you’re actually doing.
Those working in education, childcare or doing office work are among the most likely to be underpaid for the work they do.
It might be time to crack out the calculator and make sure you’re not being underpaid.
