Can my employer make me do unpaid training before my first shift?
The rota is not where your rights begin. Required induction can be work before your first shift, even if the employer calls it unpaid.
The care home sends the safeguarding modules on Sunday and says pay starts Monday. The warehouse wants an unpaid forklift morning before you can go on the floor. You have the job, but apparently not the wage. Required induction counts towards your minimum-wage hours once a worker’s contract exists. Your first productive shift is not the starting line.
- £12.71
- 21 and over, unless the apprentice rate applies
- £10.85
- Ages 18 to 20, unless the apprentice rate applies
- £8.00
- Under 18 or eligible apprentices, from April 2026
- 6 mths
- Usual GB tribunal window from 1 October 2026
What to do today
Write the hours down before the rota app forgets them. A promise to look into it does not stop the clock.
- Record the hours. Write down the date, start, finish, course and who required it. Include required e-learning at home and travel between work and a training venue. Record actual training time, not breaks or time the browser was left open.
- Save evidence you can still access after leaving. Keep your offer, acceptance, induction instructions, completion records, payslips and any cancellation-charge terms. Save your own employment evidence securely. Do not copy clients’ care records or other people’s personal information.
- Ask for the missing pay in writing. Use the message below. Seven days is a response deadline you set, not a legal time limit. Ask how the employer counted the training hours in your pay period.
- Get support and report underpayment. A union rep can help you check the calculation and raise it with the employer. You can use the pay and work rights complaint form without first confronting your manager. HMRC handles minimum-wage enforcement for the Fair Work Agency. Ask for your identity to be withheld.
- Protect the tribunal deadline separately. A grievance or an HMRC complaint does not stop it. In Great Britain, notify Acas for early conciliation if you may claim. Calling the helpline is not notification. In Northern Ireland, use the Labour Relations Agency. Get advice before starting proceedings, because a tribunal claim affects HMRC’s ability to pursue the same arrears.
Care and NHS support staff can ask UNISON or GMB. Warehouses, kitchens, hotels, security, restaurants and bars can ask Unite or GMB. Apprentices should start with the union for their sector: see union help with apprenticeships and which union to join. Ask what a new membership covers if the dispute has already started. Citizens Advice and a law centre can check the figures. If your visa is tied to this employer, get advice before you confront them. A union, a law centre or the Work Rights Centre is the place to start. You can report a job you have left.
You do not have to threaten a claim in your first message. If your shifts or visa depend on this employer, speak to an adviser about the safest way to raise it.
The rule
Section 1 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 gives qualifying workers a minimum hourly rate for their work in each pay reference period. Employees and other workers over compulsory school age are covered, subject to statutory exemptions.
Required training is work for this calculation. For hourly staff, regulation 33 of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 treats qualifying training hours as time work. Government guidance also includes training in the rules for salaried hours, output work and unmeasured work. Being paid monthly does not make induction disappear.
These rates apply across the UK from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Our minimum-wage guide explains the bands.
| Who | Hourly minimum |
|---|---|
| 21 and over, and not on the apprentice rate | £12.71 |
| 18 to 20, and not on the apprentice rate | £10.85 |
| Under 18, but over school-leaving age | £8.00 |
| Apprentice under 19, or 19 and over in the first year | £8.00 |
Apprentices aged 19 or over move to their age rate after completing their first apprenticeship year. Under compulsory school-leaving age, there is no National Minimum Wage entitlement.
For example, £600 of pay for 40 shift hours plus four compulsory training hours gives £13.64 an hour, rounded to the nearest penny. For a worker aged 21 or over who is not on the apprentice rate, that clears the £12.71 floor. Whether the employer owes extra training pay then depends on the contract. The examples below show workers whose pay does fall below the floor.
Section 49 prevents a contract from excluding or limiting the minimum-wage right. “Training is unpaid” cannot excuse underpayment. We regard making a minimum-wage worker complete compulsory induction for nothing as taking wages they have earned. Calling it company policy does not make it lawful.
Which hours count
HMRC’s manual says training required by the employer is working time for hourly staff, including outside normal working hours. Required e-learning does not become your leisure time because you complete it at the kitchen table.
Regulation 19 includes employer-approved training away from the normal workplace when you would otherwise be working, qualifying travel between work and the training venue, and training at the normal workplace. Required training and genuinely optional study need to be distinguished.
Zero-hours staff may hear that they would not have been working that Sunday anyway. Regulation 19(2) covers uncertainty caused by variable hours. If it is uncertain whether you would otherwise have been working, the qualifying training or travel hours still count. See zero-hours contracts.
| Situation | Position |
|---|---|
| Required safeguarding modules at home | Count if a worker’s contract already exists, including outside normal hours |
| Compulsory forklift induction before your first picking shift | Counts if you are already a worker |
| Food-hygiene course you must finish before the employer gives you shifts | A compulsory gateway to the job can itself be work |
| Travel between work and an off-site training centre | Qualifying travel counts. Keep a separate record of the journey |
| An optional evening course you chose, unrelated to work | Does not count if it was not required and was outside time you would otherwise be working |
| A genuine recruitment assessment | Depends on whether you were actually working under a worker’s contract. See trial shifts |
Do not assume every journey from home is paid training time. Travel to a separate training venue can need a closer check. Record the route and hours, then ask an adviser. Payment for travel time and repayment of the fare are different questions.
Check each pay reference period. A well-paid period later does not cancel an earlier shortfall. Divide the pay that counts for minimum-wage purposes by all the hours that count, including induction. Use pay before ordinary tax and National Insurance deductions, but account for job-related costs that reduce minimum-wage pay. Our underpayment guide explains the calculation.
Were you already hired?
“You had not started” is not the test. The test is whether a worker’s contract had already been entered into.
HMRC’s guidance tells investigators to establish when the worker’s contract formed and distinguish work from the selection process. The employer’s chosen payroll start date does not settle that question.
In Opalkova v Acquire Care Ltd, decided on 6 May 2021, a care worker attended four days of compulsory unpaid induction before her first care assignment. The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the original tribunal had asked the wrong questions. It sent the induction claim back for reconsideration. The appeal judgment did not finally decide that she was owed induction pay.
The tribunal needed to ask whether she had already entered into a worker’s contract and, if so, whether the training was work under the relevant rules. A contract can be made orally, in writing or through conduct. Signing the full employment document later is not conclusive. An accepted offer, compulsory induction instructions and cancellation-charge terms can all be evidence.
Keep that evidence. The appeal also discussed the statutory presumption of minimum-wage qualification, but said a bare assertion of an earlier contract date without supporting evidence would not necessarily engage it. A conditional offer is evidence to examine, not an automatic win.
If the session was genuinely part of selecting applicants, the position may differ. But no offer letter does not automatically mean no pay. A worker’s contract can arise from what actually happened during a supposed trial. Read our trial-shift guide rather than accepting the employer’s label.
If they charge you for the course
A payslip can show £12.71 an hour and still hide underpayment if the employer takes the course fee back. HMRC treats a charge for contractually required training as an expense of the job. Whether deducted from wages or paid separately by you, it reduces the pay counted towards the minimum wage.
Acas says a mandatory-training deduction needs contractual authority and must not take pay below the minimum wage. Great Britain’s wage-deduction rules are in section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. An agreed charge is not automatically a lawful one. See deductions from wages.
A separate prohibition applies to employees in Great Britain. Section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 bans charging for things done or provided to meet a specific requirement of the relevant health and safety legislation. Where that duty requires the employer to provide safety training, the charge itself is prohibited, even if pay would remain above the minimum wage. Do not assume every safeguarding or food-hygiene certificate falls under this particular section just because the employer calls it mandatory.
The minimum-wage protection against compulsory training charges covers workers across the UK. Other safety protections can also apply. For PPE and required safety training, check the relevant duty rather than accepting a fee as the price of getting the job.
Apprentices
Required apprenticeship training counts for minimum-wage purposes. College days and off-the-job modules belong in the calculation, not in a separate category called “your own time”.
In England, Department for Education guidance says off-the-job training belongs within paid normal working hours. Training outside those hours should be exceptional, agreed with you, and compensated with pay or time off in lieu. Time off in lieu is not permission to ignore the minimum-wage calculation.
That apprenticeship framework applies to England. Devolved nations have their own arrangements, but the minimum-wage floor is UK-wide. See apprenticeship contracts and union support for apprentices.
Example: Sam’s evening modules
Sam is 22 and in the first year of an apprenticeship. At the April 2026 apprentice rate of £8.00, 30 paid hours give £240. Sam must also complete four unpaid training hours in the same weekly pay period. The minimum due is 34 × £8.00 = £272. The shortfall is £32. After completing the first year, Sam would qualify for the age rate, currently £12.71.
What you are owed
These examples use April 2026 rates. They assume a worker’s contract already exists, training is compulsory and all hours fall in the same weekly pay reference period. Shift hours are paid at the applicable minimum wage, with no other adjustments except Dan’s stated training charge.
Example: Amina’s safeguarding week
Amina is 25, on £12.71 an hour, and has been hired as a care worker. The employer requires three six-hour days of safeguarding and medication induction before her first care visit. It pays nothing for those 18 hours, then pays her for 36 care hours in the same weekly pay period.
All 54 hours count. The minimum due is 54 × £12.71 = £686.34. Pay received is 36 × £12.71 = £457.56. The shortfall is £228.78. Her effective hourly pay is £457.56 ÷ 54 = £8.47, rounded to the nearest penny. The payslip can still say £12.71.
Example: Dan’s forklift morning
Dan is 19 and not an apprentice. He works 30 paid hours at £10.85, plus a four-hour compulsory forklift induction. The employer deducts £75 for the training.
The minimum due is 34 × £10.85 = £368.90. Pay counted after the training charge is 30 × £10.85 − £75 = £250.50. The shortfall is £118.40. If the charge was for training the employer had to provide under the relevant health and safety duty, the separate charging ban may apply too.
Example: Jess’s food-hygiene course
Jess is 17 and over compulsory school age. The restaurant requires six hours of unpaid online food-hygiene training before her first shift. In the same pay week she works 20 hours at £8.00. The minimum due is 26 × £8.00 = £208. She receives £160, leaving a £48 shortfall.
What if the rate has risen since the underpayment?
Minimum-wage arrears are the higher of the original shortfall and the amount calculated using the current rate for the band that applied at the time. Moving into an older age band does not by itself reprice old arrears at that older band.
For example, if Amina’s otherwise identical week fell in the April 2025 rate year, her original shortfall would be 18 × £12.21 = £219.78. Revalued at the current adult rate, it is £219.78 ÷ £12.21 × £12.71 = £228.78. This formula adjusts an established minimum-wage shortfall. It does not turn every contractual pay dispute into a claim for all training hours at today’s rate.
Who is covered
Section 54 covers employees, and anyone else contracted to do the work personally where the employer is not a client of their own business. The contract can be spoken, or shown by what you both did.
Agency staff and casual or zero-hours workers can qualify too. Under section 34, the agency or hirer responsible for paying an eligible agency worker is treated as the employer for minimum-wage purposes. Ask who is recording and paying for induction. “The hirer has not paid us” does not remove the wage obligation. See agency workers’ rights.
Genuinely self-employed people do not qualify for the minimum wage, though their contracts can provide training pay. A “self-employed” label is not decisive. If the business requires personal service and controls the arrangement, check whether your status is wrong.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The minimum-wage rates and training-time rules apply throughout the UK. In Scotland, Acas is the early-conciliation body, as it is in England and Wales. The GB tribunal-limit extension took effect on 1 October 2026. The separately scheduled 9 November 2026 change for Scottish breach-of-contract claims should not be confused with the deadline for a wage-deduction claim.
In Northern Ireland, an unlawful-deduction complaint goes to an industrial tribunal under Article 55 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. The normal limit is three months less a day from the relevant payday, or the last deduction in a qualifying series. Early conciliation can alter the deadline. Use the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas, and get the date checked promptly. Do not use the GB six-month limit. See employment law in Northern Ireland.
How to get the money
Ask, then report, and protect any tribunal claim on its own clock. You can do this after you have left.
Use the pay and work rights complaint form to report minimum-wage underpayment. The Fair Work Agency was established on 7 April 2026, with HMRC officers handling minimum-wage enforcement. You can complain after leaving the job. Request confidentiality, but remember that an employer may still guess who raised the problem from the circumstances.
You can also pursue a wage claim yourself. In Great Britain, the usual tribunal time limit increased from three to six months on 1 October 2026. For a claim covered by that change, this normally means six months less a day from the payday when the money should have been paid, before allowing for early conciliation. Do not calculate it from the day you discovered the missing hours, or from your resignation. For earlier paydays or a series of deductions, get advice on the transition and which deadline applies. Use our time-limits guide and deadline calculator.
Government enforcement guidance says that if you start your own tribunal action, HMRC can no longer investigate or take further action on your behalf for that claim. Do not let an investigation run down your tribunal deadline, but get advice before choosing the route. Calling Acas for advice and notifying early conciliation are not the same as lodging a tribunal claim.
How far back you can recover pay depends on the route and the nation. The short deadline for starting a tribunal claim is different from the period of arrears you can recover. Give an adviser every affected payday, including older ones, rather than assuming the last induction is the only one that matters.
An enforcement notice can require arrears and a penalty of up to 200% of the underpayment, subject to a maximum of £20,000 per worker. The penalty is reduced by half if the employer fully complies with the notice within 14 days of service. The arrears are yours. The penalty is not compensation paid to you. Deliberate non-payment can also lead to prosecution.
If shifts disappear after you ask, save the old and new rotas. The law protects workers against detriment for asserting minimum-wage rights, and employees can have an unfair-dismissal claim if that is why they are dismissed. Get advice before resigning. See dismissal without warning.
What is in force, and what is still promised?
This guide states the law as at 1 October 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 did not create the right to have qualifying induction hours counted. That right already existed.
- Current minimum-wage rates
In force. The rates are £12.71 for eligible workers aged 21 or over, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s and eligible apprentices.
- Fair Work Agency established
In force. Use the government complaint route for minimum-wage enforcement.
- Longer GB tribunal time limit
In force. The usual window increased from three to six months. Northern Ireland has its own rules. Earlier paydays need a transition check.
Questions people ask
Must training before your first shift be paid?
Compulsory induction counts towards minimum-wage hours if you already have a worker’s contract. Your pay must cover all counted hours at the applicable minimum rate across the pay period. Extra pay above that floor depends on the contract. The first productive shift does not decide when your rights begin.
Can the contract say the training week is unpaid?
It cannot remove the minimum-wage floor. Section 49 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 prevents contracting out of that right. If leaving induction hours out makes your pay fall below the minimum wage, the employer owes the shortfall even if you agreed to unpaid training.
Do online modules at home count?
Required training connected with the job counts even outside normal hours, if a worker’s contract exists. Keep the instructions and a record of the time actually spent. A genuinely optional course you chose outside working time is different.
Can they deduct the cost of a mandatory course?
A charge for contractually required training reduces minimum-wage pay, whether taken from wages or paid separately. A deduction also needs lawful authority. For employees in Great Britain, charging for training provided to meet a specific health and safety requirement can be prohibited altogether.
Are an apprentice’s college days and off-the-job modules paid?
Required training counts towards minimum-wage hours. England’s apprenticeship guidance also places off-the-job training within paid normal working hours, with agreed and compensated exceptions. From April 2026 the £8.00 apprentice rate applies to apprentices under 19, or aged 19 or over in their first year. Otherwise the age rate applies.
What if you had not signed a contract?
You can still qualify. A worker’s contract can be formed orally or through conduct. In Opalkova, the appeal tribunal said the original tribunal needed to examine whether a worker’s contract existed before induction. It did not award induction pay itself. Keep the offer, acceptance and compulsory-training messages. If the employer says it was a recruitment test, check trial-shift rights too.
Sources
- National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 1, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 17, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 28, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 34, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 49, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Act 1998, section 54, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, regulation 19, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, regulation 33, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13, legislation.gov.uk
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 9, legislation.gov.uk
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK
- Working hours for which the minimum wage must be paid, GOV.UK
- Enforcing the minimum wage, GOV.UK
- NMWM08290: training time, HMRC National Minimum Wage Manual
- NMWM08300: travel to training, HMRC National Minimum Wage Manual
- NMWM11215: training before work starts, and charges, HMRC National Minimum Wage Manual
- Getting paid for mandatory training, Acas
- Early conciliation, Acas
- Complain about pay and work rights, GOV.UK
- Opalkova v Acquire Care Ltd, UKEAT/0209/20/RN, Employment Appeal Tribunal, 6 May 2021
- Four facts about apprentice pay, Low Pay Commission, 3 May 2024
- Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act timeline update, GOV.UK. The version checked confirms the 1 October 2026 change and identifies later measures separately.
- Fair Work Agency enforcement statement, GOV.UK, 26 August 2026
- Early conciliation, Labour Relations Agency
- Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, Article 55, legislation.gov.uk
- Apprenticeship off-the-job training guidance, Department for Education. Applies to England.
- Naming Scheme Round 22 educational bulletin, Department for Business and Trade and HMRC, 17 October 2025