How this is worked out
Start with the part almost everyone gets wrong: there is no statutory right to a higher rate for overtime in the UK. GOV.UK puts it plainly — employers do not have to pay workers for overtime at all, let alone at a premium. Time and a half is a contractual term where it exists, not a legal entitlement.
So this page adds up your hours and prices them at the rate you enter. If your contract pays a premium for extra hours, that premium is a matter for your contract, and you can enter the enhanced rate to see the effect.
What the law does give you is a limit rather than a premium. Under the Working Time Regulations you cannot be required to work more than 48 hours a week averaged over 17 weeks — an average, so a heavy week is lawful if lighter weeks balance it. You can opt out of the limit in writing, voluntarily, and you can opt back in.
Rest is also statutory: an uninterrupted 20-minute break when a day exceeds 6 hours, 11 hours between working days, and 24 uninterrupted hours off each week (or 48 each fortnight).
The one pay protection that does apply to overtime is the minimum wage. Average pay across all the hours you actually worked must not fall below your band — £12.71 an hour for anyone 21 or over from April 2026. Unpaid overtime that drags the average below that is unlawful even though the unpaid overtime itself is not.
A worked example
- Week entered
- Monday to Friday, 08:00–18:00, one hour for lunch
- Hours a day
- 9:00
- Total for the week
- 45:00
- Statutory overtime
- none — there is no premium in UK law
- Hourly rate
- £15.00
- Gross for the week
- £675.00
- Effective rate
- £15.00 — the same, because no premium applied
- Against the 48-hour limit
- under it, and it is a 17-week average in any case
- National Living Wage, 21 and over
- £12.71 from April 2026
What "time and a half" actually is here
In the US, time and a half over forty hours is federal law. In the UK it is a term some employers offer and many do not. The NHS pays enhancements under Agenda for Change, a lot of manufacturing pays a premium by collective agreement, and a great deal of office work pays nothing extra at all.
Check your contract or your staff handbook. If it says nothing about overtime, the default is that additional hours are paid at your normal rate — or, for salaried staff, are simply expected within a "reasonable additional hours" clause.
Where a premium exists, enter the enhanced rate for those hours to see the effect. This tool does not invent one, because inventing one would tell you that you are owed money you are not.
The 48-hour limit is an average, and you can opt out
The limit is 48 hours a week averaged over 17 weeks, not a hard weekly cap. A 60-hour week is entirely lawful if the surrounding weeks bring the average down. Some sectors use a longer reference period, and a few — including domestic service and jobs where working time is not measured — are excluded.
The opt-out must be individual, in writing and voluntary. An employer cannot make it a condition of the job, cannot dismiss or disadvantage you for refusing, and you can cancel it with notice — seven days unless your agreement specifies longer, up to three months.
Under-18s cannot opt out and have a stricter limit: 8 hours a day and 40 a week, with no averaging.
The minimum-wage check that catches unpaid overtime
The National Living Wage applies to your average pay across the hours you actually worked, not to your headline rate. Someone on £13.00 an hour contracted for 37.5 hours who routinely works 45 is being paid an effective £10.83 — below the £12.71 floor, and unlawfully so.
This is the mechanism that makes systematic unpaid overtime illegal in a country with no overtime premium. It applies to salaried staff too: divide the annual salary by the hours genuinely worked and check the result against your band.
HMRC enforces this and can require back pay plus a penalty. The bands from April 2026 are £12.71 for 21 and over, £10.85 for 18 to 20, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices.
Time off in lieu, and holiday pay
Many employers offer time off in lieu instead of payment. TOIL is contractual, not statutory, so the terms — whether it accrues hour for hour or at a premium, and whether it expires — are whatever your contract says. Accrued TOIL that expires unused is, in effect, unpaid work.
Holiday pay is where regular overtime does have a statutory bite. Case law has established that regular overtime must be included in the calculation of holiday pay for at least the first four weeks of statutory leave, because holiday pay must reflect normal remuneration.
If you work overtime regularly and your holiday pay reflects only your basic hours, that is likely to be wrong, and the arrears can be substantial over a few years.
Assumptions and sources
- UK
- GOV.UK, "Overtime: your rights" and "Maximum weekly working hours". https://www.gov.uk/overtime-your-rights
- UK minimum wage
- GOV.UK National Minimum Wage rates, effective 1 April 2026. https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
- Rest breaks
- GOV.UK, "Rest breaks at work": 20 minutes when a day exceeds 6 hours, 11 hours between working days, 24 hours off each week. checked 2026-08
- Holiday pay and overtime
- Established by case law rather than statute; regular overtime must be reflected in holiday pay for the first four weeks of statutory leave. Seek advice on your own circumstances.
- Not covered
- Contractual overtime premiums, TOIL terms, sector-specific reference periods, and Northern Ireland variations.