Minimum wage equalised for 21- and 22-year-olds

In April 2024 the minimum wage for 21 and 22 year olds was equalised with that of older workers, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation¹. The change removed the lower rate that had applied to those two ages, so that workers aged 21 and over were covered by the same pay floor.

The same report sets out the wider income picture for 2023/24, the year before the change took effect. It found that 37.5% of individuals, or 25.3 million people, were living in households below the Minimum Income Standard, the highest proportion since the series began in 2008/09¹. For the first time in the series, the majority of UK children, 52.6%, were living below that standard¹.

The report describes the Minimum Income Standard as a public-defined benchmark:

The report also records other changes to household incomes over the period. It says the triple lock on the state pension was reinstated in April 2023 after a pause in April 2022¹. It notes that the additional help with energy bills, worth £400 per household, was removed in 2023/24¹. On benefits, it says the two-child limit, introduced in 2017, has hit larger families particularly badly, and that the overall benefit cap introduced in 2013 has been shown to have a disproportionate impact on households with three or more children¹. It adds that the two-child limit was scrapped in the 2025 budget, quoting the Child Poverty Action Group's description of that as "the most cost-effective way to start to reduce child poverty"¹.

The report gives the following proportions of people living below the Minimum Income Standard in 2008/09 and 2023/24¹:

Why it matters for households

The equalisation of the minimum wage for 21 and 22 year olds took effect in April 2024, so it applies to pay for work done from that point. Workers in that age group moved onto the same minimum hourly rate as those aged 23 and over, rather than the lower rate that had previously applied to them. The report does not give the cash value of the rates before or after the change, and it does not state how many workers were affected; those figures have not been reported in the material available.

The wider figures cover 2023/24, the year before the change, and describe how many households were falling short of what the public considers a minimum acceptable income. The report says 25.3 million people were below that standard in 2023/24, up from 16.5 million in 2008/09¹. It also says 51.5% of households below the standard in 2023/24 had all adults in work, compared with 36.3% in 2008/09¹. Lone parents are singled out: 59.5% of those households had an income below the standard even when working full time¹.

The report notes that the state pension rose by 8.5% in April 2024 under the triple lock, while other benefits rose by 6.7%¹. It also records that median weekly earnings for full-time employees were £728 in April 2024, a 6.0% nominal increase on the year and 2.9% in real terms, set against real-terms pay cuts of 3% in the financial year ending 2023¹.

What happens next

The report says Local Housing Allowance is frozen until at least 2026, and possibly until the end of the parliament, creating a growing gap between support and rents¹. It says the benefit cap remains in place¹. It states that the two-child limit was scrapped in the 2025 budget¹. The report was published on 18 February 2026 and covers data up to 2023/24¹.