The government confirmed the new rates on the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission. They apply from 1 April 2026. The headline change is the National Living Wage, the rate for everyone aged 21 and over, going up 4.1% to £12.71 an hour. You can see the official figures on the gov.uk minimum wage rates page.
| Who it applies to | 2026 rate (per hour) | 2025 rate | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Living Wage (21 and over) | £12.71 | £12.21 | +4.1% |
| 18 to 20 year olds | £10.85 | £10.00 | +8.5% |
| 16 to 17 year olds | £8.00 | £7.55 | +6.0% |
| Apprentice rate | £8.00 | £7.55 | +6.0% |
The 18 to 20 rate went up the most in percentage terms, part of a longer plan to eventually remove the age bands below 21 and move towards a single adult rate. There's also an accommodation offset of £11.10 a day, the most an employer can count towards minimum wage pay when they provide accommodation. Apprentice pay has its own rules, explained in the gov.uk apprenticeships guide.
The minimum wage is an hourly figure, but most people want to know what it means over a year. That depends on your hours. Here's the National Living Wage of £12.71 at a few common working weeks, before tax.
| Hours per week | Annual gross | Roughly monthly gross |
|---|---|---|
| 35 hours | £23,132 | £1,928 |
| 37.5 hours | £24,785 | £2,065 |
| 40 hours | £26,437 | £2,203 |
These use 52 weeks a year. A full-time worker on 37.5 hours earns about £24,785 before tax. After Income Tax and National Insurance, that's roughly £21,300 take-home, around £1,775 a month. To see the exact take-home for any of these figures, put the annual salary into our salary calculator, or convert between hourly and yearly on the hourly wage calculator.
Your basic pay counts. Tips, service charges, and enhanced overtime rates (like time and a half) don't count towards meeting the minimum. Neither do most expenses or benefits in kind. If your employer provides accommodation, only the £11.10 daily offset can be counted. This is why some workers on paper above the rate are actually underpaid once deductions are stripped out. The rules on what counts differ by type of work (hourly, salaried, piece work), which gov.uk sets out in full.
Underpayment is more common than people think. HMRC names and fines employers who don't pay the minimum wage every year. If you think you're being underpaid, you can check whether you're getting the minimum wage on gov.uk and report it confidentially to HMRC. You're entitled to back pay for any period you were paid below the correct rate, going back up to six years.
A full-time minimum wage salary of around £24,785 sits within the basic-rate tax band. You pay 20% Income Tax on earnings above the £12,570 personal allowance, plus 8% National Insurance on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270. There's no higher-rate tax at this level. If you have a student loan or pay into a workplace pension, those come off too, and our calculator factors them in.
The questions people ask most about the new rates.
From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour, up 4.1% from £12.21. The 18 to 20 rate is £10.85, and the 16 to 17 and apprentice rate is £8.00.
At £12.71 an hour, 37.5 hours a week is about £24,785 a year before tax, roughly £21,300 take-home after Income Tax and National Insurance, or about £1,775 a month.
1 April 2026. Employers must pay the new rate from the first pay reference period that begins on or after that date.
£8.00 an hour. It applies to apprentices under 19, or aged 19+ in their first year. After the first year, apprentices aged 19+ move to the rate for their age.
No. Tips, service charges and enhanced overtime rates don't count towards meeting the minimum wage. Only your basic pay does.
Rates are the official government figures for 2026, effective 1 April 2026.
Annual and take-home figures are estimates based on 52 weeks a year and 2026/27 tax rates, for general information, not financial advice.