GUIDE — PREMIUMS
Two people work the same 40 hours for the same hourly rate and take home very different pay. The difference is when the hours were worked, and how the premium rules add up.
A premium (sometimes called an enhancement or an unsocial-hours payment) is extra pay for working at a time most people do not: at night, at the weekend, on a bank holiday. It is normally written as a multiplier or a percentage:
| £12.00 basic | £12.00 an hour |
|---|---|
| ×1.5 overtime | £18.00 an hour |
| +25% night | £15.00 an hour |
| ×2 bank holiday | £24.00 an hour |
Percentages and multipliers can describe the same thing: +50% is the same as ×1.5.
For most people, not the law. The law sets a floor (the National Minimum Wage) and rules about rest breaks and night working, but it does not require an overnight or Sunday premium. Those normally come from your contract or your employer's policy, and they differ enormously between employers and sectors. Some sectors have national agreements that set them out in detail.
So when someone says “you should get double time for a bank holiday”, the honest answer is: only if your contract says so. What you are entitled to by law is set out by GOV.UK and ACAS.
Stacking is when two enhancements apply to the same hour. Overtime on a Sunday, a night shift on a bank holiday, a weekend shift that runs into the early hours.
There are three common ways employers handle it, and they give very different answers:
All three are common. Which one applies to you is in your contract or your employer's policy — and if the answer is not written down anywhere, that is worth asking before you work the shift, not after.
Rate £12.00. A Sunday night shift, 22:00 to 06:00, one hour unpaid break. Sunday premium ×1.5, night premium +25%, overtime after 37.5 hours at ×1.5.
| Hours paid | 7h 00m (8h less 1h break) |
|---|---|
| Sunday premium only | 7 × £18.00 = £126.00 |
| Stacked (added) | 7 × £21.00 = £147.00 |
| Stacked (multiplied) | 7 × £22.50 = £157.50 |
Same shift, same rate, three different answers — a £31.50 spread. That is why “my pay looks a bit off” is so hard to pin down without knowing the rule you are checking against.
Shift Tracker UK lets you set your own rates, multipliers and stacking behaviour in Setup, then applies them to every shift you log — including overnight shifts and custom rates. It is free, needs no install, and runs on any phone or PC.
This page explains how premiums are commonly calculated. It is not legal or tax advice, and it does not tell you what your contract says. Your contract and your payslip are the record.
Usually not. Night, weekend and bank holiday premiums normally come from your contract or your employer's policy, not from the law. What the law does require is the National Minimum Wage as a minimum overall, paid rest breaks, and limits on night working.
Stacking is when two enhancements apply to the same hours, for example overtime worked on a Sunday. Some employers add the enhancements together, some multiply them, and some pay only one. Your contract or policy decides which, which is why the same hours can be paid very differently at two employers.
Because when the hours were worked matters. An hour at 02:00 on a Sunday can carry a night premium and a Sunday premium together, while the same hour on a Tuesday afternoon carries neither. Breaks and shifts crossing midnight change it again.