Calculate shift premium pay instantly

No. UK law does not require any premium pay for unsocial hours such as nights, weekends or bank holidays. The only legal floor is the National Minimum Wage, which applies at any hour of the day or night. Any enhanced rate — whether time and a half, double time, or a flat addition — is contractual. Always check your employment contracts or company pay policy to understand what rate applies.

Night workers (those who regularly work at least three hours between 11pm and 6am) must not exceed an average of eight hours per 24-hour period, calculated over a 17-week reference period. Employers must also offer night workers free health assessments before they start and at regular intervals. However, the pay rate itself has no legal minimum above the National Minimum Wage — there is no statutory night shift premium.

Yes — the effective hourly rate (including the premium) must equal or exceed NMW for the worker's age group. For example, a worker earning £7/hr base with a 1.5× premium earns £10.50/hr, which is above NMW for over-21s. However, if a worker earns a base rate below NMW and the premium only applies to certain hours, any unpaid or straight-time hours could still cause a NMW breach for that pay reference period. Use this calculator to check whether your premium rate clears the NMW floor.

Yes. Many hospitality and care businesses pay £1–£3 per hour extra for night or weekend work rather than using a multiplier. This is perfectly legal as long as the total resulting rate (base + addition) stays at or above the National Minimum Wage for the worker's age group. Some employers find flat additions simpler to communicate and easier to budget for than percentage multipliers.

You need a timesheet system that records shift start and end times along with the shift type. TimeTally lets you configure premium shift types — such as night shift, weekend, and bank holiday — and automatically calculates the correct pay rate per timesheet entry based on when the shift was worked. See our guide on night shift time tracking for more detail.