UK minimum wage (updated 2026): the rates, and what they mean for hiring
Rates checked against gov.uk on 30 September 2026. This page is updated every April when the new rates take effect.
The current rates
| Age or status | From 1 April 2025 | From 1 April 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 and over (National Living Wage) | £12.21 | £12.71 | +4.1% |
| 18 to 20 | £10.00 | £10.85 | +8.5% |
| Under 18 | £7.55 | £8.00 | +6.0% |
| Apprentice | £7.55 | £8.00 | +6.0% |
The apprentice rate applies to apprentices under 19, and to those 19 or over in the first year of their apprenticeship. The voluntary real Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation is £13.45 (UK) and £14.80 (London) for 2025-26; the 2026-27 rates are due on 15 October 2026.
The National Living Wage is the legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over. The National Minimum Wage rates apply to younger workers and to apprentices under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship. Both are set by the government each year on the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission, announced at the autumn Budget and applied from the following 1 April. The real Living Wage is a separate, voluntary rate calculated by the Living Wage Foundation from the cost of living; employers choose whether to pay it.
How we got here
The adult rate has risen by more than half since the pandemic. In April 2020 it was £8.72 an hour and applied from age 25. It rose to £8.91 in April 2021, when the age threshold dropped to 23, then to £9.50 in 2022, £10.42 in 2023, £11.44 in April 2024, when the threshold dropped again to 21, £12.21 in 2025 and £12.71 in 2026. Two things have moved at once: the rate itself, and the age at which the full rate applies.
The rate for 18 to 20 year olds has been rising faster still, by 8.5% in April 2026 against 4.1% for the adult rate. That is deliberate. The government has asked the Low Pay Commission to narrow the gap with a view to a single adult rate in time, so an employer with a young workforce should plan on the lower band shrinking and possibly disappearing.
What it means for entry-level hiring
Three things, in our experience of running volume hiring for insurers and financial services businesses.
The floor is now high enough to change where entry-level roles sit in the market. A contact centre, claims or customer service role at or near the minimum competes with every other job at that rate, in every sector, in the same town. Insurance no longer wins those candidates on pay alone, and the businesses that hire well at this level have stopped trying to. How they compete instead is in how we rebuilt a contact centre recruitment process, and in our post on contact centre recruitment.
The label matters as much as the number. Candidates read "minimum wage" as a description of the job, not just the pay, and it puts off people who would take the same role at the same rate if it were presented as a starting point with a visible next step. State the progression: what the rate becomes after probation, after a qualification, after a year.
The cost of a wrong hire has gone up with the rate. When the floor rises, the difference between a hire who stays and one who leaves at month four is a bigger number, and it makes the case for a better selection process rather than a faster one. Screening on what the person can do, rather than on a CV, is one way to do that at volume, covered in CV-less hiring.
Competing when you cannot pay more
Most of the businesses we work with cannot simply move above the market for entry-level roles, and the rise in employer National Insurance from April 2025 (to 15%, with the threshold cut to £5,000) has added to the cost of every hire on top of the wage itself. What they can do is compete on the things candidates at this level tell us they weigh alongside pay: a stated working pattern rather than a vague one, since our survey of 116 insurers found the policy itself moved applications and acceptances (see is your office policy costing you candidates?); a route to a better-paid role that is written down and real; a fast, respectful process, because a candidate at this level often has three offers in a week and takes the one that came back first; and a first ninety days that keeps them, which is the subject of retention starts at the job advert.
This is commentary from our own hiring, not research; what works in your market will depend on who else is hiring there.
What is coming
The real Living Wage rates for 2026-27 are announced on 15 October 2026. The statutory rates for April 2027 will be announced at the autumn Budget, and we will add them here when they are. The direction of travel on the 18 to 20 band is towards the adult rate.
Where Vermelo comes in
We run entry-level and volume hiring for insurers and financial services businesses where the roles sit at or near these rates, through embedded talent teams inside the client's process and Recruitment Process Outsourcing for ongoing volume. If agency fees on entry-level hires are part of the cost problem, the agency fee calculator shows what they add up to. Talk to us about hiring at this level.
Sources: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, gov.uk; Living Wage Foundation.
UK minimum wage, answered
From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour, up from £12.21. The rate for 18 to 20 year olds is £10.85 (up from £10.00), and the rate for under-18s and for apprentices is £8.00 (up from £7.55). These are legal minimums set by the government on the Low Pay Commission's advice and apply across the UK. The voluntary real Living Wage, set separately by the Living Wage Foundation, is £13.45 outside London and £14.80 in London for 2025-26, with new rates due on 15 October 2026. Rates on this page were checked on 30 September 2026 against gov.uk.
Every 1 April. The Low Pay Commission recommends the rates in the autumn, the government announces them at the Budget, usually in late October or November, and they take effect the following April. So the rates that apply from April 2027 will normally be known by the end of 2026, which gives employers four to five months to budget for them. The 18 to 20 rate has been rising faster than the adult rate because the government has asked the Low Pay Commission to narrow the gap with a view to a single adult rate over time; the 8.5% rise in April 2026 against 4.1% for the adult rate is that policy in action, and employers with younger workforces should plan for it to continue.
Not yet. The National Living Wage is the top rate and applies from age 21; workers aged 18 to 20 are entitled to the lower National Minimum Wage rate for their age band, which is £10.85 from April 2026. The age threshold has come down twice in recent years, from 25 to 23 in April 2021 and from 23 to 21 in April 2024, and the government's stated direction is to remove the 18 to 20 band altogether in time. For an employer that means two things: a 20-year-old on the lower rate becomes entitled to the adult rate on their 21st birthday, and the saving from hiring younger workers at the lower rate is shrinking each year and may disappear. Whether a specific worker is entitled to a specific rate is a question for your payroll or legal adviser.