Children under 16
School-aged children are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
Children under 16 do not pay National Insurance, so you only need to include them on your payroll if their total income is over their Personal Allowance.
Once someone reaches 16
Young workers aged 16 to 17 are entitled to at least £4.81 per hour.
If you’re a registered employer, you’ll need to record and report their pay as part of running payroll. If they earn more than £123 a week, you’ll also need to do other regular PAYE tasks like making deductions.
Before their next payday, collect information from them for PAYE. If they started work for you in the previous tax year, put their start date as 5 April in your payroll software. Record their pay for the current tax year only.
If you pay any employee over £123 a week you must be registered as an employer and operate PAYE.