Low Pay Commission submits 2026 minimum wage recommendations

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) submitted its recommendations for the 2026 minimum wage rates to the Government on 27 October 2025¹. The Government announced acceptance of those recommendations at the Autumn Budget on Wednesday 26 November¹. The new rates came into force on 1 April 2026¹.

The National Living Wage (NLW), the statutory minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over, rose by 4.1 per cent to £12.71 an hour, an increase of 50p¹. The 18-20 Year Old Rate rose to £10.85, up 85p or 8.5 per cent¹. The 16-17 Year Old Rate and the Apprentice Rate both rose to £8.00, up 45p or 6.0 per cent¹. The Accommodation Offset, an allowable deduction from wages for accommodation applicable for each day of the week, rose to £11.10 per day, up 44p¹.

The LPC is an independent body made up of employers, trade unions and experts whose role is to advise the Government on the minimum wage¹. Its rate recommendations were agreed unanimously by the Commission¹. The current Commissioners are Baroness Philippa Stroud (Chair), Nigel Cotgrove, Matthew Fell, Andrew Goodacre, Louise Fisher, Professor Patricia Rice, Simon Sapper, Professor Jonathan Wadsworth and Janet Williamson¹.

Baroness Philippa Stroud, LPC Chair, said:

The LPC said its recommended NLW rate is intended to meet the Government's ambition for the rate to reach at least two-thirds of median earnings². It said its August projection of the rate needed to reach that level was a range of £12.55 to £12.86, with a central estimate of £12.71². The LPC also said the Government asked it to take into account the cost of living, including expected inflation trends between April 2026 and April 2027, and that it expects its recommended rate to represent a real-terms increase across the whole of that period using any major inflation measure².

The LPC said the 8.5 per cent increase in the 18-20 Year Old Rate makes progress towards the Government's ambition of extending the NLW to that age group, and that it is lower than the double-digit increases for this age group in recent years and the 25 per cent increase that would have been needed to bring these age groups into the NLW this year². It set out a path to extend the NLW to 20 year olds in 2027 and to 18 and 19 year olds in 2028 or 2029, subject to economic conditions and Government policy towards young people at the time². The Government has stated its ambition to reduce the NLW age threshold from 21 to 18². The threshold came down from 25 to 23 in April 2021 and from 23 to 21 in April 2024¹.

The LPC noted that the National Living Wage is different from the UK Living Wage and the London Living Wage calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, which it described as voluntary pay benchmarks that employers can sign up to if they wish, not legally binding requirements². It said it has no role in either².

Why it matters for households

The rates set the legal pay floor for workers across the UK from 1 April 2026¹. For an NLW worker working 37.5 hours per week, the LPC said the increases announced will raise annual gross pay by £977 and monthly gross pay by £81.47². Workers aged 21 and over are covered by the NLW; separate rates apply to 18-20 year olds, 16-17 year olds and apprentices aged under 19 or in the first year of an apprenticeship². The LPC said rates for workers aged under 21, and apprentices, are currently lower than the NLW to reflect lower average earnings and higher unemployment rates, and that its remit requires it to set the rates for 16-17 year olds and apprentices as high as possible without causing damage to jobs and hours². The Accommodation Offset change affects the maximum amount employers can deduct from wages for accommodation provided, per day of the week².

What happens next

The LPC published its letter of recommendations to the Government and a short report summarising the main evidence relied on, on Wednesday 26 November². Its full annual report will be laid before Parliament and published in the new year². The LPC has also published a report looking at the immediate impacts of the new rates and a consultation to inform its recommendations on future minimum wage rates¹. The Government's remit to the LPC was published on 16 March¹; a separate remit document was published in July².