Can I do unpaid trial shifts?

Under section 1 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, anyone who qualifies as a worker must be paid at least the minimum wage for their work. A worker is someone who agrees to do work personally for you (National Minimum Wage Act 1998 s 54).

The law doesn't define a "trial work period" or say exactly when a trial must be paid. Calling something a "trial", "test" or "recruitment exercise" doesn't stop the person being a worker.

A candidate's agreement to work for free doesn't help. Any agreement that tries to exclude the minimum wage has no effect (National Minimum Wage Act 1998 s 49).

Government guidance lists the factors a tribunal is likely to consider:

• whether the trial is genuinely for recruitment
• whether it lasts longer than you reasonably need to test the person's ability
• how closely you watch them while they do the tasks
• how closely the tasks match the job on offer
• whether the tasks have value to you beyond testing, such as serving real customers
• whether trial periods matter to how you run the business, apart from recruiting

The guidance's own example is a café owner who watches a candidate for a Saturday waiting job work a two-hour trial shift. That is unlikely to need paying, because two hours is proportionate and the purpose is to check the candidate can do the role. A full unpaid shift in a real workplace, or several of them, is likely to need paying.

If a trial counts as work, pay at least:

• £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage)
• £10.85 for ages 18 to 20
• £8.00 for under 18s
• £8.00 for apprentices under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship

These rates apply across the UK. Check the current figures on GOV.UK.

• Pay for the trial. Put the person on payroll for the trial shift at least at the minimum wage. As a worker they also build up paid holiday.
• Keep unpaid tests short and simulated. A brief, supervised task at the interview, ideally not on real customers or real orders, is the safest kind of unpaid test.
• Use a probation period. Hire them and pay them from day one, with a short notice period during probation.
• Be clear up front. Tell candidates in writing whether the trial is paid, how long it lasts and what they will do.

Some government-funded schemes, such as the Work Trial for people claiming benefits, are exempt from the minimum wage under specific rules.

An unpaid trial that should have been paid is an underpayment. HMRC can order you to pay the arrears, worked out at the current minimum wage rate, plus a penalty of up to 200% of the arrears (maximum £20,000 per worker), halved if you pay within 14 days. Deliberate non-payment can lead to prosecution and an unlimited fine. The worker can also claim at an employment tribunal, and from 1 October 2026 most tribunal claims can be brought within six months.

In February 2026 the government said it doesn't want to restrict legitimate trials, but will update its guidance and use enforcement action against misuse.