Free tool

Overtime pay calculator

Set a basic rate, your normal hours and the overtime you’ve worked, then pick a multiplier to see the extra pay and your total for the week.

Basic hourly rate

£/hr

Overtime rate

Normal hours this week: 37.5h

Overtime hours: 6h

Overtime rate

£18.75

per overtime hour

Overtime pay

£112.50

6h × 1.5×

Total this week

£581.25

43.5h, gross

Average across all 43.5h: £13.36 per hour

Track overtime automatically with WagePilot

Indicative only. UK law sets no automatic overtime premium — the multiplier is whatever your contract agrees — but average pay across the week must never drop below the National Minimum / Living Wage. Gross figures, before tax and National Insurance. Not legal advice. WagePilot applies your overtime policy per shift automatically.

How overtime pay works in the UK

UK law sets no automatic overtime premium. Whether you earn extra for hours beyond your contract — and how much — is down to your employment contract. The familiar conventions are time-and-a-half (1.5× the basic rate) and double time (2×), often for Sundays, bank holidays or hours past a weekly threshold.

There are two legal guardrails. First, average pay across the week must never drop below the National Minimum / Living Wage once all hours are counted. Second, the Working Time Regulations cap the working week at 48 hours on average unless the worker has opted out, and overtime counts towards that average. Regular overtime usually has to feed into holiday pay, too, because holiday is based on average earnings.

Getting this right by hand, per person, per week, is fiddly and error-prone. WagePilot applies each site’s overtime and pay-policy rules automatically as people clock in, so the right rate is on every hour without a spreadsheet.

Overtime questions

Does UK law require employers to pay extra for overtime?

No. There is no statutory right to a higher rate for overtime in the UK — what you are paid is whatever your contract says. The one hard rule is that your average pay across the week must not fall below the National Minimum or Living Wage once the extra hours are included. Time-and-a-half and double time are common conventions, not legal requirements.

How do I calculate time-and-a-half?

Multiply the basic hourly rate by 1.5. For example, £12.00 an hour at time-and-a-half is £18.00 an hour. Double time multiplies the basic rate by 2 (£24.00 in that example). The calculator above does this and adds it to your normal pay for the week.

Does overtime count towards holiday pay?

Often, yes. Where overtime is regular enough to be considered part of normal pay, it should be reflected in holiday pay, which is calculated on average earnings (typically over the previous 52 weeks). Purely one-off overtime is treated differently. WagePilot keeps the hours history needed to work this out.

Is there a maximum number of hours I can work?

Under the Working Time Regulations you cannot be forced to work more than 48 hours a week on average (usually over 17 weeks) unless you have signed an opt-out. Overtime counts towards that 48-hour average.

Let WagePilot handle overtime

Set your overtime rules once and they apply to every shift automatically, ready to export to payroll. From £10 a month per site — staff always free.

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