Government accepts Low Pay Commission recommendations for April 2025 minimum wage rates

The Government announced on 29 October 2024 that it had accepted the Low Pay Commission's recommendations on the rates of the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, to apply from 1 April 2025¹. The Commission's recommendations were submitted to the Government on 25 October 2024¹.

The rates from 1 April 2025 are:

The National Living Wage is the statutory minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over. The age threshold came down from 25 to 23 in April 2021 and from 23 to 21 in April 2024¹. Different rates continue to apply to 18-20 year olds, 16-17 year olds and apprentices aged under 19 or in the first year of an apprenticeship, and the Apprentice Rate will remain equal to the 16-17 Year Old Rate¹.

The recommended NLW rate is expected to equal two-thirds of median earnings and to have the highest real value in the history of the UK's minimum wage¹. For an NLW worker working 37.5 hours per week, the increases will raise annual gross pay by £1,505.54 and monthly gross pay by £125.46¹. For the first time, the Government asked the Commission to take into account the cost of living, including expected trends in inflation up to March 2026, when recommending the NLW¹.

Baroness Philippa Stroud, Chair of the Low Pay Commission, said:

The Commission said the data show some signs of employers finding it harder to adapt to minimum wage increases, and that the economy is expected to grow over the next year although productivity growth remains subdued¹. The rate recommendations were agreed unanimously by the Commission¹.

The National Living Wage is separate from the UK Living Wage and the London Living Wage calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, which are voluntary benchmarks rather than legally binding requirements, apply to workers aged 18 and over, and are based on an attempt to measure need rather than a target relationship with average pay¹. The differences between the two are set out in more detail elsewhere.

Why it matters for households

Anyone paid at or near the statutory pay floor aged 21 and over will see their hourly rate rise to £12.21 from 1 April 2025, a cash increase of £0.77 an hour. Workers aged 18 to 20 move to £10.00 an hour, a rise of £1.40, and 16-17 year olds and apprentices on the Apprentice Rate move to £7.55, a rise of £1.15¹. The Accommodation Offset, the amount that can be deducted from wages for accommodation for each day of the week, rises to £10.66 per day¹.

The increases take effect on 1 April 2025 and apply to the pay floor only; they do not set what any individual employer pays above it. The Commission's stated expectation is that the NLW rate represents a real-terms increase across the whole period to March 2026 using any major inflation measure¹. The Commission also noted that employers have had to deal with the adult rate rising over 20 per cent in two years, alongside other pressures on their cost base¹.

What happens next

The Commission has published its letter of recommendations and a short report summarising the main evidence relied on; its full annual report will be laid before Parliament and published in the new year¹. The Government has stated its ambition to reduce the NLW age threshold from 21 to 18, and the Commission will consult next year on the pathway to achieving this goal¹. The Commission said it looks forward to continuing its work next year as the detail of the Make Work Pay plan is elaborated upon¹.