The records you’re assumed to have
UK employers carry record-keeping duties that mostly go unnoticed — right up until a pay dispute, an inspection or a tribunal asks to see the evidence. What the obligations are, in plain words, and what “adequate records” look like in practice.
The obligations, plainly
Two duties do most of the work. National Minimum Wage rules require employers to keep records sufficient to show every worker has been paid at least the minimum — and to keep them for six years. If HMRC asks and the records are not there, the burden falls on the employer to prove compliance, not on anyone else to prove a breach.
The Working Time Regulations add a second layer: employers must keep records adequate to show the weekly working time limits and night-work rules are being met. “Adequate” is the operative word — the law does not prescribe a format, but it does assume that when the question is asked, an answer exists.
None of this requires software. It requires records that are complete, contemporaneous and retrievable. That is where the practical trouble starts.
Where the signing-in book falls short
A paper register is a record, but rarely an adequate one. Entries are made from memory (“must have been about nine”), gaps go unnoticed for weeks, and retrieval means finding the right book for the right month three years later — assuming it was not filled in retrospectively the day before the inspection, which is precisely what an inspector is trained to suspect.
Spreadsheets inherit the same weaknesses plus one more: anyone with the file can quietly rewrite history, and there is no way to show they did not.
What strengthens a record is the same in any format: entries created at the moment the event happened, by the person it happened to, with corrections tracked rather than overwritten. A tap at the door produces exactly that — a timestamped, verified entry the employee made themselves, with an approval trail on any change. Six years of it is a database query, not a cupboard of books.
This guide is general information, not legal advice; for a specific situation, speak to an employment adviser.
Quick answers
How long must minimum wage records be kept?
Six years. For anyone paid near the minimum — common in nurseries, care and community organisations — hours records are the pay records.
Is there a prescribed format?
No. Paper is legal. The question an inspector or tribunal asks is whether the record is complete, contemporaneous and credible — which is where format starts to matter a great deal.
Do salaried staff need hours records too?
Minimum wage compliance can still turn on hours for salaried workers — unpaid overtime can drag an effective hourly rate below the minimum — and working time limits apply regardless of how pay is structured.
Records that write themselves
Every tap is a timestamped, verified entry. Exports arrive payroll-ready whenever you need them.
See how it works