How long must UK employers keep wage and timesheet records?

Short answer: keep records that show you’ve paid at least the National Minimum/Living Wage for six years (since 1 April 2021), keep payroll records (PAYE) for at least three years after the end of the tax year they relate to, and keep adequate records of hours worked to show compliance with the Working Time Regulations. When in doubt, six years is the safe horizon.

The key duties

1. National Minimum Wage records: six years

Employers must keep records “sufficient to establish” that workers are paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage. Since 1 April 2021, those records must be kept for six years (up from three). These are the records HMRC will ask for in an NMW check, and an individual worker can also request to see their own.

2. Payroll (PAYE) records: at least three years

HMRC expects PAYE records (what you paid, deductions, payments to HMRC) to be kept for at least three years after the end of the tax year they relate to. Many businesses simply keep them six years to align with the NMW rule.

3. Working time records

Under the Working Time Regulations you must keep “adequate” records to show that working-time limits are being respected. There’s no fixed retention period set in the regulations themselves, but keeping them alongside your wage records is sensible.

What “good records” actually look like

• Hours worked per shift, with start and finish times.
• Pay rates and how pay was calculated.
• Holiday taken and accrued.
• An audit trail: who changed a record, when, and why.

That last point matters. If a record is disputed, or HMRC questions it, a clean, tamper-evident history is the difference between a quick answer and a problem. Edits scribbled over a paper timesheet don’t reassure anyone.

Where this trips small businesses up

The common failure isn’t bad intent: it’s paper. Timesheets on a pad get lost, photographed unevenly, or re-keyed with mistakes. Six years of that is a filing cabinet nobody wants.

This is precisely what WagePilot’s audited timesheets are for: every shift logged from a real clock-in, every edit recorded with a reason and visible to the employee too, and the whole lot exportable whenever HMRC or a member of staff asks. You keep your existing payroll. WagePilot just hands it clean, approved hours and keeps the paper trail.

Always check current figures and rules on GOV.UK; this is general guidance, not legal advice.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check GOV.UK or a qualified adviser for your situation. WagePilot handles the tracking automatically, but you remain responsible for your own compliance.