Trial Shift Pay Checker

Not always. A genuine recruitment assessment — where an employer observes and evaluates your skills throughout, lasting no more than one to two hours — may lawfully be unpaid. However, if you did real productive work (serving customers, preparing food, taking calls) that benefited the employer, National Minimum Wage is almost certainly owed regardless of what the employer calls it.

HMRC guidance — now enforced by the Fair Work Agency — indicates that a genuine unpaid assessment should last no longer than one to two hours. The longer the shift, the stronger the argument that it was productive work rather than a skills test. A shift lasting half a day or more is extremely difficult for an employer to justify as unpaid.

A full-day unpaid trial shift almost certainly entitles you to National Minimum Wage for every hour worked. You should first try raising it with your employer in writing. If that fails, you can file a complaint with the Fair Work Agency (which took over NMW enforcement from HMRC in 2026) or seek ACAS conciliation before bringing an Employment Tribunal claim. You have up to three months from the last unpaid shift to bring a tribunal claim.

No. If an employer asks you to do more than one unpaid trial shift, that is almost certainly unlawful. A genuine assessment of your skills does not require you to repeat the same tasks across multiple sessions without pay. Each additional unpaid shift strengthens the argument that the employer is obtaining free labour.

The Fair Work Agency (FWA) is a new enforcement body established in 2026, consolidating HMRC's National Minimum Wage enforcement teams and other labour market enforcement functions. It investigates NMW underpayment — including unpaid trial shifts — and can require employers to repay arrears plus a financial penalty of up to 200% of the underpayment. Complaints to the FWA are confidential.