GovData Docs

Employment API Reference

National minimum wage, pension auto-enrolment thresholds, and ONS earnings.

Base URL: https://api.govdata.dev/v1

Minimum Wage

GET /v1/employment/minimum-wage/rates

Current national minimum and living wage rates by age band.

Query parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
tax_year string No Tax year in YYYY-YY format. Defaults to current year.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.govdata.dev/v1/employment/minimum-wage/rates

Response

{
  "data": {
    "tax_year": "2025-26",
    "effective_from": "2025-04-01",
    "rates": [
      { "band": "National Living Wage (21+)", "hourly_rate": 12.21 },
      { "band": "18-20", "hourly_rate": 10.00 },
      { "band": "16-17", "hourly_rate": 7.55 },
      { "band": "Apprentice", "hourly_rate": 7.55 }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "api_version": "v1",
    "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
    "source": "GOV.UK",
    "source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates"
  }
}

Auto-Enrolment

GET /v1/employment/auto-enrolment/thresholds

Pension auto-enrolment earnings thresholds and contribution rates.

Query parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
tax_year string No Tax year in YYYY-YY format. Defaults to current year.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.govdata.dev/v1/employment/auto-enrolment/thresholds

Response

{
  "data": {
    "tax_year": "2025-26",
    "thresholds": {
      "lower_qualifying_earnings": 6240,
      "earnings_trigger": 10000,
      "upper_qualifying_earnings": 50270
    },
    "contribution_rates": {
      "employee_minimum": 0.05,
      "employer_minimum": 0.03,
      "total_minimum": 0.08
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "api_version": "v1",
    "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
    "source": "GOV.UK",
    "source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/what-your-employer-must-do"
  }
}

Gender Pay Gap

Search statutory employer reports to benchmark organisations, research sectors, or chart an employer's published history. Percentages are returned as rates: 0.067 means 6.7%, while a negative gap means women's pay was higher.

Search reports

GET /v1/employment/pay-gap
NameTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
employer_namestringNoCase-insensitive literal prefix; % and _ are not wildcards.
company_numberstringNoExact Companies House number.
yearintegerNoStart year from 2017 through the current reporting year.
sic_codestringNoExact code in the employer's reported SIC-code list.
pageintegerNo1Page number.
per_pageintegerNo25Records per page, from 1 to 100.
curl -G -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" --data-urlencode "employer_name=HM T" --data-urlencode "year=2025" https://api.govdata.dev/v1/employment/pay-gap

Employer history

Return every loaded report for one service employer ID or company number, ordered oldest first. Use this for trend charts or due-diligence timelines.

GET /v1/employment/pay-gap/history
NameTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
company_numberstringConditionalRequired unless employer_id is supplied.
employer_idintegerConditionalRequired unless company_number is supplied.
curl -G -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" --data-urlencode "employer_id=303" https://api.govdata.dev/v1/employment/pay-gap/history

Captured response

{"data":[{"employer_id":697,"employer_name":"3663 TRANSPORT LIMITED","current_name":"3663 TRANSPORT LIMITED","reporting_year":2025,"company_number":"00456846","address":"814 Leigh Road, Slough, England, SL1 4BD","postcode":"SL1 4BD","sic_codes":["52290"],"employer_size":"1000 to 4999","pay_gaps":{"mean_hourly":-0.0469,"median_hourly":-0.0006,"mean_bonus":-10.6186,"median_bonus":-20.0},"bonus_rates":{"male":0.1064,"female":0.18},"quartile_rates":{"lower":{"male":0.9292,"female":0.0708},"lower_middle":{"male":0.972,"female":0.028},"upper_middle":{"male":0.9591,"female":0.0409},"top":{"male":0.9376,"female":0.0624}},"responsible_person":"Heather Angus (People Director)","company_link":null,"submitted_late":false,"due_at":"2026-04-05T00:00:00.000Z","submitted_at":"2026-04-02T14:38:12.000Z","company":null}],"meta":{"api_version":"v1","licence":"Open Government Licence v3.0","source":"UK Gender Pay Gap Service","source_url":"https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/viewing/download","reporting_years":"2017-18 to 2026-27"},"pagination":{"total":1,"page":1,"per_page":25,"total_pages":1}}

Captured after a development database reset and import of the trimmed real 2025 fixture. company is null when the Companies House dataset has no matching loaded company; otherwise it contains number, name, and status. Blank source percentages remain null, never zero.

Errors

HTTP 400
{"error":{"code":"invalid_parameter","message":"year must be an integer.","documentation_url":"https://docs.govdata.dev/errors/invalid_parameter"}}

HTTP 404
{"error":{"code":"not_found","message":"No pay-gap reports found for that employer.","documentation_url":"https://docs.govdata.dev/errors/not_found"}}

HTTP 422
{"error":{"code":"invalid_year","message":"year must be between 2017 and 2026.","documentation_url":"https://docs.govdata.dev/errors/invalid_year"}}

Coverage and cadence: 94,471 unique employer-year reports across every available file: 2017-18 through partial 2026-27. Completed reporting deadlines are 30 March for most public authorities and 4 April for other employers, so GovData refreshes annually on 7 April. The current year may grow through late submissions.

Licence and caveats: Gender Pay Gap Service, Open Government Licence v3.0. Values are employer-submitted and can contain blanks, negative gaps, extreme bonus percentages, late corrections, changing names, and missing company numbers for public bodies. A report describes an employer, not necessarily a single legal company.

ASHE Earnings

GET /v1/employment/earnings

Median and mean gross hourly, weekly and annual earnings from ASHE Tables 5 and 29. Results are paginated. ONS x/.. markers become null with suppressed: true; null never means zero.

Query parameters

Name Type Required Default Description
year integer No ASHE reference year, for example 2025.
region string No Region name or official geography code, for example London or E12000007.
industry_code string No SIC 2007 industry code, including all for the aggregate.
occupation_code string No SOC 2020 occupation code, including all for the aggregate.
statistic string No Filter by mean or median.
suppressed boolean No Filter by whether ONS suppressed the estimate.
page integer No 1 Page number.
per_page integer No 25 Records per page, from 1 to 100.
curl -G -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "year=2025" --data-urlencode "region=London" \
  --data-urlencode "statistic=mean" \
  https://api.govdata.dev/v1/employment/earnings

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "year": 2025,
      "geography": { "code": "E12000007", "name": "London" },
      "industry": { "code": "all", "name": "All industries" },
      "occupation": { "code": "all", "name": "All occupations" },
      "statistic": "mean",
      "median": { "hourly_pay": null, "weekly_pay": null, "annual_pay": null },
      "mean": { "hourly_pay": 30.94, "weekly_pay": 1047.3, "annual_pay": 60673.0 },
      "suppressed": false,
      "source_table": 5
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "api_version": "v1",
    "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
    "source": "ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings",
    "source_url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/regionbyindustry2digitsicashetable5"
  },
  "pagination": { "total": 1, "page": 1, "per_page": 25, "total_pages": 1 }
}

Employment data is sourced from GOV.UK and ONS ASHE, updated annually. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Data Coverage

Source HMRC / GOV.UK / ONS
Date range Minimum wage and auto-enrolment: 2020-21 to 2026-27 tax years; ASHE earnings: 2025 provisional reference year
Records Minimum wage rates, auto-enrolment thresholds, and ASHE earnings by geography, industry, and occupation
Updated Annually
Limitations Historical rates before 2020-21 are not available. Minimum-wage bands follow the law in each year: NLW applied from age 25 in 2020-21, age 23 from 2021-22, and age 21 from 2024-25; a separate age 21–22 band therefore exists only from 2021-22 through 2023-24.