UK minimum wage 2026: £12.71 an hour, all rates

These are the hourly rates published on GOV.UK, in force from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027:

• 21 and over (National Living Wage): £12.71
• 18 to 20: £10.85
• Under 18: £8.00
• Apprentice: £8.00

The apprentice rate applies if you are under 19, or 19 or over and in the first year of your apprenticeship. Once you are 19 or over and past that first year, you are entitled to the normal rate for your age.

"National Minimum Wage" and "National Living Wage" are both legal minimums. The name only changes with age: the National Living Wage is what the government calls the top band, for workers aged 21 and over. Almost every worker is covered, and it doesn't matter how small the employer is. The main exceptions listed on GOV.UK are the self-employed, company directors, volunteers, members of the armed forces and people on certain placements or government schemes.

Payslips, job adverts and tenancy forms all ask for different units, so it helps to have the conversion in one place. The maths:

• Weekly: hourly rate × hours per week
• Yearly: weekly pay × 52
• Monthly: yearly pay ÷ 12

There is no official "full-time" number of hours, so we use 37.5 hours a week, a common full-time contract. At the National Living Wage:

• Per week: £12.71 × 37.5 = £476.63
• Per year: £476.63 × 52 = £24,784.50
• Per month: £24,784.50 ÷ 12 = £2,065.38

If your contract is for a different number of hours, the result moves quite a bit:

• 35 hours a week: £444.85 a week, £23,132.20 a year
• 40 hours a week: £508.40 a week, £26,436.80 a year

And at 37.5 hours a week for the younger bands:

• 18 to 20 (£10.85): £406.88 a week, £21,157.50 a year, £1,763.13 a month
• Under 18 or apprentice (£8.00): £300 a week, £15,600 a year, £1,300 a month

Those figures are gross. Two deductions come off before the money reaches your account: income tax and employee National Insurance. The thresholds for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), from GOV.UK, are:

• Personal Allowance: £12,570 a year, tax free
• Basic rate: 20% on income from £12,571 to £50,270
• Employee National Insurance (category A): 0% up to the primary threshold of £12,570 a year (£242 a week, £1,048 a month), then 8% up to £50,270

For a full-time worker on £24,784.50 a year:

1. 1. Income above the allowance: £24,784.50 − £12,570 = £12,214.50
2. 2. Income tax: £12,214.50 × 20% = £2,442.90
3. 3. National Insurance: £12,214.50 × 8% = £977.16
4. 4. Take-home: £24,784.50 − £2,442.90 − £977.16 = £21,364.44 a year

That is roughly £1,780 a month or £411 a week. On 35 hours a week it is about £1,681 a month, and on 40 hours about £1,880.

A few things change this number for real people. It assumes the standard 1257L tax code, England, Wales or Northern Ireland (Scotland sets its own income tax bands, so the result there differs slightly), and nothing else taken from your pay. If you are auto-enrolled in a workplace pension, or repaying a student loan, those come off too, so your payslip will usually show a little less.

For the younger bands on 37.5 hours, the same method gives about £1,563 a month for 18 to 20 year olds and £1,229 a month on £8.00 an hour.

The adult rate has risen every April. From GOV.UK's table of previous rates:

• April 2023: £10.42 (then for workers aged 23 and over)
• April 2024: £11.44, up 9.8%, and the age threshold dropped from 23 to 21
• April 2025: £12.21, up 6.7%
• April 2026: £12.71, up 4.1%

In full-time terms (37.5 hours, 52 weeks), that is £20,319 a year in 2023 against £24,784.50 now. The 18 to 20 rate has risen faster: £7.49 in April 2023, £8.60 in 2024, £10.00 in 2025 and £10.85 in 2026, an 8.5% rise this year alone. The under 18 and apprentice rate went from £7.55 to £8.00 (up 6.0%).

The Real Living Wage is not a legal minimum. It is a voluntary rate set by the Living Wage Foundation, calculated from what people need to cover the cost of living (rent, food, bills and other essentials), and paid by employers who choose to sign up. The Foundation says nearly 17,000 employers are accredited.

The current rates, announced on 22 October 2025, are:

• UK: £13.45 an hour
• London: £14.80 an hour

It applies to all workers aged 18 and over at an accredited employer, with no lower youth rate. Compared with the National Living Wage, the UK rate is 74p an hour more, or about £1,443 a year at 37.5 hours a week. In London the gap is £2.09 an hour, roughly £4,076 a year.

The Foundation says its 2026/27 rates will be announced on 15 October 2026, so these figures are about to change. Check its site if you are reading this later in the year.

First, check. GOV.UK has a minimum wage calculator for workers that also tells you if an employer owes you money from earlier pay periods. Use your payslip and the hours you actually worked, not just the ones in your contract.

If you think you are being underpaid, GOV.UK sets out these steps:

1. 1. Talk to your employer. Sometimes it is a payroll mistake, for example a rate not updated in April.
2. 2. Ask in writing to see your pay records. You can take someone with you and make copies.
3. 3. Call Acas for free, confidential advice: 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
4. 4. Complain to HMRC through the pay and work rights complaint form. You can also complain on behalf of someone else.

If HMRC finds that you were underpaid, the employer must pay back the arrears, and HMRC can issue a fine and take the employer to court. You can also go to an employment tribunal yourself.

On about £1,780 a month there isn't much room, which is exactly why a plan helps. A few general starting points:

• Plan from take-home pay, not the gross figure. £2,065 a month gross and £1,780 net are very different budgets.
• Write down your fixed costs first: rent, council tax, energy, phone, travel to work. What is left is what you actually decide about.
• Use a simple split as a guide, not a rule. The 50/30/20 rule suggests 50% for needs, 30% for wants and 20% for saving. On a low income, needs often take more than half, and that's fine: adjust the percentages to your situation.
• Build a small buffer before anything else. Even a few hundred pounds stops a broken boiler or a late payslip turning into debt. Our guide to the emergency fund explains how to do it in stages.
• Check after each pay rise. Every April the rate changes. If your spending quietly rises with it, the increase disappears.

If you want somewhere to keep track of it, Neto lets you record your income and spending, set budgets by category and create savings goals, without connecting your bank. It is free to start, on iPhone and Android, and you can keep your accounts in pounds.

Figures checked on 2 October 2026. Sources: GOV.UK, National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates (current and previous rates); GOV.UK, who gets the minimum wage (apprentice rule and exceptions); GOV.UK, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (2026/27 bands); GOV.UK, rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (National Insurance); GOV.UK, worker disputes over minimum wage and pay and work rights (Acas and HMRC); Living Wage Foundation and its 22 October 2025 announcement (Real Living Wage).