> Minimum wage check with the Check Take Home Pay API, POST /v1/minimum-wage-check: every field, an example request in cURL, Node.js and Python, and the response.

Web version: https://checktakehomepay.co.uk/docs/api/minimum-wage-check · Last updated: 2026-10-09

# Minimum wage check

`POST /v1/minimum-wage-check` Needs a key

Whether pay for the hours worked meets the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for the age, and by how much it falls short.

## Request

A JSON body. Fields not listed here are rejected.

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `age` required | integer | The minimum wage applies from school-leaving age. Allowed: 16 to 100. |
| `pay` required | number | Pay for the period. Allowed: 0 or more, under 100,000,000. |
| `hours` required | number | Hours worked in the period, to two decimal places. Allowed: 0.01 to 744. |
| `tax_year` optional | string | The tax year, such as 2026-27. The latest when not given. Default `"2026-27"`. |
| `apprentice` optional | boolean | An apprentice. Default `false`. |
| `apprentice_first_year` optional | boolean | In the first year of the apprenticeship. Default `false`. |

## Example

cURL

```
curl https://api.checktakehomepay.co.uk/v1/minimum-wage-check \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHECKTAKEHOMEPAY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "age": 25,
  "pay": 1300,
  "hours": 100
}'
```

Node.js

```
const response = await fetch('https://api.checktakehomepay.co.uk/v1/minimum-wage-check', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.CHECKTAKEHOMEPAY_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "age": 25,
    "pay": 1300,
    "hours": 100
  }),
});
const result = await response.json();
```

Python

```
import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.checktakehomepay.co.uk/v1/minimum-wage-check",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['CHECKTAKEHOMEPAY_API_KEY']}"},
    json={"age": 25, "pay": 1300, "hours": 100},
)
result = response.json()
```

## Response

200, with the result and what produced it: `tax_year`, `engine`, `hmrc_test_data`, `assumptions` and `sources`. This is the example's real response. Every field's type is in the [OpenAPI document](https://api.checktakehomepay.co.uk/openapi.json).

200 OK

```
{
  "tax_year": "2026-27",
  "engine": "2026-27.1",
  "hmrc_test_data": "rest of UK and Welsh tax v1.0, Scottish tax v1.1, NI v1.0, directors NI v1.0, student loans v1.0",
  "band": "aged21AndOver",
  "rate": 12.71,
  "hourly_pay": 13,
  "meets_minimum": true,
  "shortfall": 0,
  "assumptions": [
    "The apprentice rate applies under 19 or in the first year of an apprenticeship; after that, the rate for the age.",
    "pay is what counts towards the minimum wage for the hours given: the caller leaves out what does not (tips, most premiums, some deductions)."
  ],
  "sources": [
    "https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates"
  ]
}
```

## Errors

-   400 `INVALID_INPUT`: the message names each field that is wrong.
-   401 `UNAUTHENTICATED` (no key) or `INVALID_KEY` (a key we don’t know, or a revoked one).

Every code, and how to handle them: [Errors](https://checktakehomepay.co.uk/docs/errors).