Government announces minimum wage rates for April 2026

The Government announced on 26 November 2025 that it has accepted in full the Low Pay Commission's recommendations on minimum wage rates, which take effect from April 2026¹. The National Living Wage, the statutory minimum for workers aged 21 and over, will rise by 4.1 per cent to £12.71 an hour, an increase of 50p¹. The Commission's recommendations were submitted to the Government on 27 October 2025¹.

The other rates rise by more in percentage terms. The minimum wage for 18 to 20 year olds increases to £10.85, up 85p or 8.5 per cent, and the rate for 16 and 17 year olds rises to £8.00, up 45p or 6.0 per cent¹. The apprentice rate also rises to £8.00, up 45p or 6.0 per cent, and the accommodation offset, an allowable deduction from wages for accommodation for each day of the week, increases to £11.10 per day, up 44p or 4.1 per cent¹.

The Commission said its recommended National Living Wage rate is intended to meet the Government's ambition for the rate to reach at least two-thirds of median earnings¹. When it published projections in August, its central estimate of the rate needed to reach that level was £12.71, within a projected range of £12.55 to £12.86¹. The Commission expects the recommended rate to represent a real-terms increase across the whole period to April 2027, using any major inflation measure¹.

Baroness Philippa Stroud, the Commission's chair, said:

The Commission is an independent body made up of employers, trade unions and experts, and it said the rate recommendations were agreed unanimously¹. It noted that the 8.5 per cent rise for 18 to 20 year olds is lower than the double-digit increases for that age group in recent years, and lower than the 25 per cent increase that would have been needed to bring those age groups into the National Living Wage this year, and that its advice notes concerns about the strength of the youth labour market¹.

Why it matters for households

The rates are statutory pay floors, so they set the least an employer can pay for the relevant age group and category from April 2026¹. The National Living Wage applies to 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. Lower rates continue to apply to 18 to 20 year olds, 16 and 17 year olds, and apprentices aged under 19 or in the first year of an apprenticeship¹.

For an employee on the National Living Wage working 37.5 hours a week, the Commission says the announced increases will raise annual gross pay by £977 and monthly gross pay by £81.47¹. The figures are gross, before tax and National Insurance.

The National Living Wage is separate from the voluntary UK Living Wage and London Living Wage benchmarks set by the Living Wage Foundation, which employers can sign up to but which are not legally binding, 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 Commission has no role in those rates¹.

What happens next

The Commission published its letter of recommendations and a short report summarising the evidence on 26 November 2025, and its full annual report will be laid before Parliament and published in the new year¹. The Government has stated its ambition to reduce the National Living Wage age threshold from 21 to 18, and the Commission's advice sets out a path to extend the National Living Wage 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 time¹.