Understanding how travel time affects pay is essential for employers, especially when ensuring compliance with both the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and, where relevant, UKVI sponsorship rules.
If travel time is not paid correctly, workers’ actual hourly pay could fall below the legal minimum. This can lead to serious compliance breaches with HMRC and, for sponsors, the Home Office.
⚖️ Legal Framework
National Minimum Wage (NMW)
HMRC guidance states that travel between work assignments counts as working time.
Employers must include this time when calculating whether workers are receiving at least the NMW.
Failing to pay for this time may reduce the worker’s effective hourly rate below NMW, which is unlawful.
UKVI Sponsorship Rules
Sponsors must ensure workers are paid at least the required salary threshold for their visa category. See our minimum salary calculator for assistance here.
If unpaid travel time causes their actual hourly rate to fall below this threshold, the employer risks being non-compliant with sponsorship duties.
✅ What Counts as Paid Travel Time?
You must pay workers for:
🚌 Travel between client sites or work assignments.
🏢 Travel during working hours as part of their duties (e.g., attending meetings, delivering goods, home visits).
🎓 Travel time to mandatory training sessions.
This applies regardless of contract type (e.g., zero-hours, part-time, full-time).
❌ What Does NOT Count as Paid Travel Time?
You do not need to pay for:
🚶 Commuting from home to the worker’s usual workplace.
🚶 Travel from home to the first assignment of the day and back home after the last assignment.
🛑 Time on genuine breaks (e.g., lunch breaks during travel).
Actual Travel Time Must Be Counted
When assessing whether travel time counts for minimum wage purposes, only the actual time taken by the worker matters.
Employers cannot assume shorter times by suggesting the worker could have used a different route or mode of transport.
Travel times based on “ideal conditions” or computer-generated routes (which ignore real factors like traffic, distance, or weather) will not be accepted.
Travel time must reflect the real journey that took place, not a theoretical or alternative version of it.
📌 Example Scenarios
Care worker visiting clients
A care worker travels from Client A to Client B during the day. This travel must be paid and count towards NMW.
The commute from their home to the first client, and from the last client back home, does not count.
Engineer on site visits
An engineer travels from the office to multiple sites. All travel between sites must be included in their paid hours.
The initial commute from home to the office is not included.
Zero-hours worker on assignments
Even if a worker has irregular shifts, any travel between assignments counts as working time and must be paid.
🚨 Employer Responsibilities
🔍 Track travel time accurately - ensure workers record travel between assignments.
💷 Pay for all qualifying travel time - otherwise you risk breaching NMW laws.
📑 Review sponsorship compliance - if you employ sponsored workers, unpaid travel time could cause their actual hourly rate to fall below visa thresholds.
🕒 Avoid "contact time only" pay models - this can push wages below NMW and put you at risk of penalties.