Clocking off early on paper: unpaid minutes that add up below National Minimum Wage

• NMW is tested as pay that counts ÷ hours that count in each pay reference period, not as a casual glance at the advertised rate.
• For time work, GOV.UK counts time at the workplace working, and time at the workplace when you are required to be available for work, even if no customers appear.
• Systematic unpaid opening, closing, cash-up, or "clock off then finish the shutters" patterns can push the average under £12.71 (21+ from April 2026).
• GOV.UK payslips: if pay varies with time worked, the slip must show hours. Compare those hours with rotas and real finish times.
• Keep your own contemporaneous log. Employer records matter in enforcement; your diary fills holes when the clock was stopped early.
• Dual tribunal limits apply to personal claims; HMRC is a separate NMW enforcement route for the same underpayment (usually choose one process for that issue).

GOV.UK's calculating manual explains that NMW is an hourly rate applied to eligible workers even when they are not paid "by the hour" on the face of the contract. You still convert pay and hours in the pay reference period into an equivalent hourly figure.

Work type matters (salaried hours, time work, output work, unmeasured work). Retail, hospitality, warehouse and similar roles with clocking are often time work: pay varies with hours at work. For time work, hours that count include:

• time spent at the workplace working (rest breaks are generally excluded for time work)
• time spent at the workplace and required to be available for work, whether or not work is provided
• certain training and business travel (see the GOV.UK working-hours chapter)

Time away from work (holidays, sick leave, and similar) and ordinary home-to-work commuting usually do not count. The unpaid-minutes problem sits inside the first bullets: you were still at the workplace working or required to be available after the system stamped you out.

Common patterns:

• manager tells you to clock off at rostered end, then finish cash-up and lock-up
• opening staff told to arrive early to deactivate alarms, receive deliveries, or set tables before paid start
• "team briefing" squeezed outside paid time every shift
• biometric clock placed so you must wait unpaid to leave while still on duties

If those minutes are mandatory and you are at work working (or required to be available), they belong in the hour count for time work. Labelling them "goodwill" does not remove them from the NMW average.

GBP example (closing minutes): You are 28. Rostered 35 paid hours at £12.75. Gross for the week: 35 × £12.75 = £446.25. You stay 20 minutes after clock-off to close on 5 nights: 5 × 20 = 100 minutes ≈ 1.67 hours. True hours ≈ 36.67. £446.25 ÷ 36.67 ≈ £12.17. That is below £12.71. Weekly NMW shortfall on this pattern alone ≈ 36.67 × £12.71 - £446.25 ≈ £19.80 (illustrative; rebuild with your exact minutes and pay elements).

GBP example (opening plus closing): Same £446.25 for 35 rostered hours. Unpaid open 15 minutes × 5 mornings (1.25 hours) plus unpaid close 20 minutes × 5 nights (1.67 hours) = 2.92 extra hours. True hours ≈ 37.92. £446.25 ÷ 37.92 ≈ £11.77. Floor on 37.92 hours: 37.92 × £12.71 ≈ £482.00. Shortfall ≈ £35.75 that week.

Small minutes. Material money once the average fails.

GOV.UK: employers must give employees and workers a payslip on or before payday (with limited exceptions). The slip must show earnings before and after deductions, variable deductions, and the number of hours you worked if your pay varies depending on time worked.

Acas unpaid-wages guidance tells you to check the payslip, the written statement, the hours in the pay period, and any timesheet approval rules. If the payslip hours match the truncated clock while CCTV, till logs, delivery notes, or manager messages show later finishes, the mismatch is your exhibit A.

Ask payroll (in writing) to explain any gap between:

• rostered hours
• clock hours
• payslip hours
• hours you actually worked

Keep copies. Do not rely on a verbal "we'll sort it next month".

NMW enforcement leans on records. GOV.UK calculating guidance and the Regulations require employers to keep sufficient records. For you:

1. Note start and finish as they happened, not as the app allowed.
2. Save rotas, amended rotas, and screenshots of "can you stay to close?" messages.
3. Keep till Z-reads, alarm logs, or delivery timestamps that prove presence after clock-off.
4. Export every payslip showing hour totals.
5. Run the GOV.UK minimum wage calculator for each pay reference period and store the result.

If timesheets need manager approval, follow the process and keep your raw log. A rejected overtime line is still evidence of claimed time.

Acas: employers must pay wages on the agreed payday. If pay is wrong or late, work out the shortfall, check the payslip and written statement, then raise the issue. Practical sequence:

1. Informal written query to manager or payroll with dates, minutes, and pound shortfall.
2. Formal grievance if needed (remember: grievance does not pause tribunal time limits).
3. For NMW underpayment, Acas guidance is that you generally choose HMRC or an employment tribunal, not both for the same underpayment.
4. Before tribunal, notify Acas for Early Conciliation in time.

Dual regime: most unpaid-wages / similar claims use 3 months minus 1 day as at September 2026. From 1 October 2026, most become 6 months minus 1 day if the limitation clock starts on or after that date. A series of underpayments is usually timed from the most recent wrong deduction for presentation purposes (ERA 1996 section 23 / Acas framing), subject to that dual length rule. Notify Acas inside the limit to pause the clock through Early Conciliation.

HMRC can investigate NMW and may pursue longer arrears than a typical tribunal wages claim. Pick the route with advice if the pattern spans years.

If you are truly on salaried hours work under the Regulations, the hour-counting rules differ (basic annual hours, calculation year, excess hours). Unpaid daily closing can still matter once you exceed basic annual hours, or if your arrangement is actually time work mislabelled as salary. GOV.UK tells HMRC officers to test work type carefully. Do not assume a monthly salary buries unpaid minutes forever; rebuild the correct category first.

• "Only five minutes." Five minutes × two ends × five days ≈ 50 minutes a week. Over a month that is hours of unpaid time in the average.
• "I clocked off so it cannot count." For time work, what matters is whether you were still working or required to be available at the workplace, not whether the app was closed.
• "Tips cover the gap." Tips do not count toward NMW pay.
• "The contract says unpaid closing is part of the culture." Contract labels do not override the Regulations where those minutes are working time for NMW.
• "I'll raise it after the busy season." Dual tribunal limits still run from the wrong payday; Early Conciliation only pauses if you notify Acas in time.

Unpaid minutes are a spreadsheet problem before they are a courtroom problem. Paye Mes Heures helps you convert opening and closing logs into a week-by-week average against £12.71 so you can show payroll a precise shortfall. Use it to prepare figures, then follow Acas, HMRC or Early Conciliation for enforcement. It is not a substitute for official advice or a ruling.

• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/calculating-the-minimum-wage
• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/calculating-the-minimum-wage/working-hours-for-which-the-minimum-wage-must-be-paid
• https://www.gov.uk/payslips
• https://www.acas.org.uk/if-your-wages-are-not-paid
• https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
• https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-tribunal-time-limits
• https://www.gov.uk/pay-and-work-rights