Overtime Pay Calculator
Work out your overtime pay at time-and-a-half, double time or any other rate — plus a check against the National Minimum Wage and the 48-hour working week limit.
Start here
How to use this calculator
Enter your normal hourly rate, pick how your overtime is paid, and add your hours for the week.
Enter your hourly rate and overtime multiplier
Check your contract or payslip — “time and a half” is 1.5×, “double time” is 2×. Not every employer pays a premium at all.
Add your hours
Your normal contracted hours and any extra overtime hours for the week.
Check the minimum wage line
We flag it if your average pay across all your hours would fall below the legal minimum for your age band.
Why it matters
There’s no legal right to extra pay for overtime
Many people assume “time and a half” is a legal requirement, but it isn’t. UK law does not require employers to pay any premium for overtime at all — your employer could legally pay the same rate for overtime as for normal hours, or nothing extra beyond your normal pay, depending on what your employment contract says. Overtime pay rates and how they’re worked out should be set out in your contract; if it doesn’t mention overtime, ask your employer directly what applies.
The one legal floor that always applies: your average pay across all the hours you actually work must never fall below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for your age band. This calculator checks that automatically using the hours and pay you enter.
The 48-hour week
The working time limit
Separately from pay, the Working Time Regulations limit most workers to an average of 48 hours a week, normally averaged over a 17-week reference period — so one long week doesn’t automatically break the rule on its own. Workers aged 18 and over can choose to “opt out” of this limit in writing, and can cancel that opt-out later with notice. A small number of safety-critical roles (such as aviation, shipping and certain transport workers) cannot opt out at all.
Questions
Common questions
Is my employer legally required to pay time and a half for overtime?
No. There is no general legal right to an overtime premium in the UK. Whether — and how much — extra you’re paid for overtime depends entirely on your employment contract. Some employers pay a premium, some pay the same flat rate, and some don’t pay for overtime at all (though unpaid compulsory overtime has its own separate rules).
Can my overtime rate mean I’m effectively paid below minimum wage?
Your overtime rate itself can be anything your contract says — even the same as your normal rate. What the law actually protects is your average pay across all the hours you work in the pay period: that average can never legally fall below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for your age. If it does, your employer is underpaying you and you can raise this with them or with Acas.
Do I have to work overtime if I’m asked to?
It depends on your contract. If your contract includes “compulsory overtime,” you may be required to work extra hours when asked, within the 48-hour weekly limit (unless you’ve opted out). If your contract doesn’t mention compulsory overtime, you can usually decline extra hours, though refusing reasonable, occasional requests could still affect your working relationship.
Does regular overtime count towards my holiday pay?
Often, yes. Holiday pay is meant to reflect your normal pay, and case law has established that regularly worked overtime — including some voluntary overtime — should usually be included when calculating holiday pay, not just your basic contracted hours. This is a separate, more detailed calculation to the one on this page; check ACAS guidance or speak to your employer if this applies to you.
How is the 48-hour limit actually measured?
It’s an average, not a hard weekly cap — normally calculated over a rolling 17-week period, so some individual weeks can go over 48 hours as long as your average across the reference period doesn’t. If you’ve signed a written opt-out, the limit doesn’t apply to you at all.
Where these figures come from. The rules on overtime pay and the National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage floor are taken from gov.uk. The 48-hour working week limit and opt-out rules are taken from gov.uk. Minimum wage rates are the same 2026/27 rates (effective 1 April 2026) verified for our Minimum Wage Calculator, cross-checked against multiple independent sources. All figures were checked on 23 September 2026.
Overtime: your rights (gov.uk) · Maximum weekly working hours (gov.uk) · Minimum Wage Calculator
How we calculate · Editorial policy. This is general information, not legal advice.