The rates, from 1 April 2026: £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage), £10.85 for 18 to 20, £8 for under 18, and £8 for apprentices in their first year (or aged under 19). GOV.UK labels this row "April 2026" and notes "The rates change on 1 April every year."
Who gets it: every "worker" at or over school leaving age — part-time, casual, agency, piece-rate, trainee — and "it does not matter how small an employer is." The genuinely self-employed, directors, volunteers, live-in family and short work-placement students sit outside it.
The trap: the floor is measured on gross pay before deductions. Only accommodation can count towards it, capped at the offset — £11.10/day, £77.70/week from April 2026 — and deductions that break the floor are the classic breach. Employment Rights Act 1996 s.13 already limits what you can lawfully deduct at all.
Enforcement: HMRC investigates; underpaying is a criminal offence (NMW Act 1998 s.31). Note the change: the Act's civil notices-of-underpayment penalty (ss.19–19H) was omitted on 7 April 2026 by the Employment Rights Act 2025.
What the wage floor is: two names, one number per worker
The UK has a single statutory wage floor with two labels. The National Minimum Wage is the umbrella; the National Living Wage is simply the top band of it — the rate for workers aged 21 and over. GOV.UK puts it plainly: "The National Living Wage is higher than the National Minimum Wage — workers get it if they're 21 and over," and "The minimum wage a worker should get depends on their age and if they're an apprentice." There is one number per worker in any pay period; you do not add the two together.
The statutory hook is section 1 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998: "A person who qualifies for the national minimum wage shall be remunerated by his employer in respect of his work in any pay reference period at a rate which is not less than the national minimum wage." A person qualifies if they are an individual who is a worker, working (or ordinarily working) in the United Kingdom under their contract, and over compulsory school age. The rate itself is "such single hourly rate as the Secretary of State may from time to time prescribe" — which is why the numbers move every year while the framework stays put.
The current rates, from 1 April 2026
These are the rates GOV.UK lists under "Current rates," on the row headed April 2026. Every figure is a gross hourly rate, measured across the worker's pay reference period before tax and before lawful deductions.
- 21 and over (National Living Wage) — £12.71
- 18 to 20 — £10.85
- Under 18 — £8
- Apprentice — £8
Apprentice rule. The £8 apprentice rate applies only to an apprentice who is either aged under 19, or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. Once an apprentice is 19 or over and has completed the first year, they move to the rate for their age — so, per GOV.UK's own example, "an apprentice aged 21 who has completed the first year of their apprenticeship is entitled to a minimum hourly rate of £12.71."
Prior year for comparison (GOV.UK, "April 2025 to March 2026"): £12.21 / £10 / £7.55 / £7.55.
A word on when a new rate bites. The floor is set by the pay reference period (NMW Act 1998 s.1), so the 1 April increase takes effect from the start of the first pay reference period beginning on or after 1 April — not mid-period. GOV.UK's headline rule is simply "The rates change on 1 April every year." For payroll that means the April uplift can land part-way through a monthly cycle, and you apply it from the next full period.
Who gets the minimum wage — and who does not
Eligibility turns on being a "worker" at or over school leaving age, not on job title. GOV.UK's list of who is entitled is deliberately broad: part-time workers, casual labourers, agency workers, homeworkers paid by the items they produce, apprentices, trainees and people on probation, disabled workers, agricultural workers, foreign workers, seafarers and offshore workers, and au pairs or live-in staff who are not family. The size of the business is irrelevant — "It does not matter how small an employer is, they still have to pay the correct minimum wage."
The exclusions are narrower than people assume. Outside the floor sit: the genuinely self-employed running their own business, company directors, volunteers and voluntary workers, workers on some government employment programmes, members of the armed forces, family members who live in the employer's home and share in the work, workers below school leaving age, and higher or further education students on a work-experience placement of up to one year. "Company director" is the trap that catches small owner-managed businesses — a director with no worker's contract is not automatically entitled, which is a different question from what the company chooses to pay.
The accommodation offset: the only benefit that can count
Employers sometimes want to offset perks against the wage floor. Almost none of them count. GOV.UK is explicit: "No other kind of company benefit (such as food, a car, childcare vouchers) counts towards the minimum wage." The single exception is accommodation the employer provides, and even that only counts up to a capped daily/weekly figure — the accommodation offset.
- £11.10 per day
- £77.70 per week
How it works, per GOV.UK: if the employer charges more than the offset, "the difference is taken off the worker's pay which counts for the National Minimum Wage" — so a high accommodation charge drags a worker below the floor. If the charge is at or below the offset, it has no effect. And if the accommodation is free, "the offset rate is added to the worker's pay" for the calculation. The offset is the one lever that lets in-kind housing count — every other benefit is invisible to the floor.
The wage floor meets deductions: Employment Rights Act 1996 s.13
Two separate rules bear on a payslip line that reduces take-home pay, and both have to be satisfied. First, is the deduction lawful at all? Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 says an employer "shall not make a deduction from wages of a worker employed by him" unless the deduction is "required or authorised to be made by virtue of a statutory provision or a relevant provision of the worker's contract," or "the worker has previously signified in writing his agreement or consent to the making of the deduction." A shortfall against wages properly payable is itself treated as a deduction (s.13(3)), and — crucially — a later contract variation or a later consent cannot retrospectively authorise a deduction for something that already happened (s.13(5)–(6)). Deductions outside those gates are unlawful deductions from wages, recoverable at an employment tribunal.
Second, even a lawful deduction can breach the minimum wage. The floor is measured on pay before deductions made for the employer's own benefit, so a deduction the worker validly agreed to — for a uniform, tools, or a till shortage, say — will still count against the employer if it drops the worker's effective hourly pay under the applicable rate. The permitted set that does not break the floor is essentially the statutory one: income tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, plus accommodation within the offset above. The practical rule for payroll: clear the s.13 lawfulness gate first, then re-check the net result against the wage floor — the two tests are independent, and passing one does not save you on the other. The payslip mechanics of showing deductions sit in Payslips & records.
Enforcement: HMRC, criminal offences, and the April 2026 shake-up
Two enforcement tracks run in parallel. On the civil side, HMRC is the enforcer: GOV.UK routes complaints about the National Minimum Wage to HM Revenue and Customs, with the Acas helpline for advice, and HMRC can require arrears to be repaid to workers. On the criminal side, section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 makes it an offence if an employer "refuses or wilfully neglects to remunerate the worker" at the minimum wage, with further offences for failing to keep the records required under s.9, making false entries in those records, and knowingly supplying false records or information. Those criminal offences remain in force.
legislation.gov.uk records that sections 19 to 19H of the 1998 Act — the "notice of underpayment" and its financial penalty — were "omitted (7.4.2026) by virtue of Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36)", as minimum-wage enforcement is folded into the new Fair Work Agency. The arrears-recovery duty and the s.31 criminal offences are unaffected. Because the specific civil penalty percentage and per-worker cap now depend on the new regime rather than the old ss.19–19H, we do not quote a headline penalty figure here — confirm the current amount directly with HMRC.
Change-watch: the 1 April cycle vs the 6 April tax year
The UK runs two different April dates, and confusing them is the classic payroll error. The minimum wage changes on the 1 April calendar cycle — GOV.UK: "The rates change on 1 April every year." The income tax and National Insurance year, by contrast, starts on 6 April, and that is when tax codes, thresholds and most statutory-pay rates reset. So in early April you are applying a new wage floor from 1 April but the new tax-year parameters only from 6 April — a five-day window where one axis has moved and the other has not. Diarise both, separately, and apply each from its own date. The PAYE and National Insurance side is covered in PAYE, NI & auto-enrolment, and the statutory-pay rates that move on the tax-year cycle in Leave & statutory pay.
Quick answers
What are the UK minimum wage rates from April 2026?
From 1 April 2026 the hourly rates are £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage), £10.85 for 18 to 20-year-olds, £8 for under-18s and £8 for apprentices. GOV.UK labels this row "April 2026" and states "The rates change on 1 April every year." Apprentices get the £8 apprentice rate only if they are aged under 19, or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship; otherwise they move to the rate for their age. The figures are gross hourly rates — the floor is measured before tax and before deductions, across each pay reference period.
Who qualifies for the minimum wage in the UK?
Anyone classed as a "worker" who is at least school leaving age qualifies, and workers aged 21 and over get the higher National Living Wage. That sweeps in part-time, casual, agency and piece-rate homeworkers, trainees, workers on probation, disabled workers, agricultural and foreign workers, and live-in staff who are not family. GOV.UK stresses that "It does not matter how small an employer is, they still have to pay the correct minimum wage." The main people outside the floor are the genuinely self-employed running their own business, company directors, volunteers, family members living and working in the employer's home, members of the armed forces, and further or higher education students on a work placement of up to a year.
Can an employer make deductions that take pay below the minimum wage?
Only within narrow limits. Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 bars any deduction from a worker's wages unless it is required or authorised by a statutory provision or a written term of the contract, or the worker has previously agreed to it in writing. On top of that, benefits an employer provides in kind do not count towards the minimum wage — GOV.UK is explicit that no company benefit such as food, a car or childcare vouchers counts. The one exception is employer-provided accommodation, which can count up to the offset only: £11.10 a day or £77.70 a week from April 2026, with anything charged above that reducing the pay that counts towards the floor. Tax, National Insurance and pension contributions are permitted statutory deductions and do not, by themselves, breach the wage floor.
How is the UK minimum wage enforced, and what changed in April 2026?
HMRC investigates minimum-wage complaints — GOV.UK routes reports about the National Minimum Wage to HM Revenue and Customs, with the Acas helpline for advice. Underpaying is also a criminal matter: section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 makes it an offence for an employer to refuse or wilfully neglect to pay the minimum wage, with separate offences for failing to keep records or supplying false records or information. The civil-penalty machinery has just moved: legislation.gov.uk records that sections 19 to 19H of the 1998 Act — the notices of underpayment and their financial penalty — were omitted on 7 April 2026 by the Employment Rights Act 2025, which folds minimum-wage enforcement into the new enforcement body. Arrears remain recoverable and the criminal offences stand; confirm the current penalty position with HMRC.
The wage floor checked on every pay run, by age band and pay period
Ledra Pay's UK country pack carries the current National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates by age band and apprentice status, moves each worker to the right band automatically on birthdays and the 1 April uplift, and re-checks effective hourly pay after deductions and the accommodation offset against the floor — so a lawful deduction that would quietly breach the minimum wage is flagged before the run posts, not after HMRC asks.
See UK coverage →Government sources
- GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates ("Current rates," row headed April 2026: £12.71 for 21 and over, £10.85 for 18 to 20, £8 under 18, £8 apprentice; "The rates change on 1 April every year"; apprentice rule and the £12.71 completed-first-year example; prior "April 2025 to March 2026" row £12.21 / £10 / £7.55 / £7.55).
- GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage (overview) ("The minimum wage a worker should get depends on their age and if they're an apprentice"; National Living Wage for those 21 and over; "It does not matter how small an employer is, they still have to pay the correct minimum wage").
- GOV.UK — Who gets the minimum wage (workers entitled — part-time, casual, agency, piece-rate homeworkers, apprentices, trainees, disabled, agricultural, foreign, live-in non-family; and who is not — self-employed, company directors, volunteers, armed forces, live-in family, students on placements up to a year).
- GOV.UK — Accommodation and minimum wage (from April 2026 the offset is £11.10 daily and £77.70 weekly; "No other kind of company benefit (such as food, a car, childcare vouchers) counts towards the minimum wage"; charge above offset reduces countable pay; free accommodation adds the offset).
- GOV.UK — Pay and work rights complaints (National Minimum Wage complaints directed to HM Revenue and Customs; the Acas helpline for advice on pay and the National Minimum Wage).
- legislation.gov.uk — National Minimum Wage Act 1998, s.1 (a qualifying person "shall be remunerated ... in any pay reference period at a rate which is not less than the national minimum wage"; worker, UK-work and over-school-age qualifying conditions; "single hourly rate as the Secretary of State may from time to time prescribe").
- legislation.gov.uk — National Minimum Wage Act 1998, s.31 (offence to "refuse or wilfully neglect" to pay the minimum wage; offences for record-keeping failures and false records or information; due-diligence defence).
- legislation.gov.uk — National Minimum Wage Act 1998, s.19A (notices of underpayment: financial penalty — recorded as "Ss. 19-19H omitted (7.4.2026) by virtue of Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36), s. 159(3), Sch. 10 para. 23; S.I. 2026/323").
- legislation.gov.uk — Employment Rights Act 1996, s.13 (right not to suffer unauthorised deductions: no deduction unless "required or authorised ... by virtue of a statutory provision or a relevant provision of the worker's contract" or the worker "has previously signified in writing his agreement or consent"; s.13(3) shortfall treated as a deduction; s.13(5)–(6) no retrospective authorisation).
Related
The itemised payslip, what deductions must be shown, and the records behind every pay run.
Income tax, National Insurance and workplace pensions — the deductions that sit on top of the wage floor, on the 6 April cycle.
Holiday, sick pay and family leave — the statutory-pay rates that reset with the tax year.