UK minimum wage rates 2026: a small employer’s guide
The April 2026 National Minimum and National Living Wage rates by age band, who gets what, and the everyday mistakes that quietly leave you underpaying.
3 min read
Short answer: from 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage (21 and over) is £12.71 an hour. Workers aged 18 to 20 get at least £10.85, under-18s and apprentices at least £8.00. Pay the rate for each person’s age, watch the moment someone moves up a band, and remember the figure that matters legally is average pay per hour, not the rate on their contract.
The 2026 rates at a glance
| Band | Hourly rate (from April 2026) | Previous (April 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 21 and over (National Living Wage) | £12.71 | £12.21 |
| 18 to 20 | £10.85 | £10.00 |
| Under 18 | £8.00 | £7.55 |
| Apprentice | £8.00 | £7.55 |
The National Living Wage rose 4.1% this April. The government reviews these rates every April on the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission, so the safe habit is to check the current figure on GOV.UK each spring. You can see what any rate works out to as weekly and annual pay with our minimum wage calculator.
National Minimum Wage vs National Living Wage
They are two names for bands of the same legal entitlement. The National Living Wage is simply the top band — the rate for workers aged 21 and over. The National Minimum Wage is the term used for the younger age bands and the apprentice rate. Every worker above school-leaving age is entitled to at least their band’s rate; it is not optional, and you cannot agree to pay less.
The apprentice rate has a catch
The apprentice rate (£8.00) applies only to apprentices aged under 19, or those aged 19 and over but in the first year of their apprenticeship. Once an apprentice is 19+ and has completed their first year, they move on to the normal rate for their age. Missing that transition is a common and expensive slip.
Where employers underpay without meaning to
Most underpayment isn’t deliberate — it’s arithmetic. The usual culprits:
- Unpaid working time. Time spent opening up, cashing up, in handovers or in mandatory training counts as working time. Rounding clock-ins down does too.
- A birthday that bumps a band. A 20-year-old turning 21 should move to £12.71 that day. Diary it, or let software flag it.
- Deductions for the employer’s benefit. Charging for a uniform or tools can pull pay below the minimum.
- Salaried staff on long hours. A fixed salary divided by the hours actually worked can dip under the line in a busy month.
HMRC can issue penalties of up to 200% of arrears and publicly name employers who underpay, so this is worth getting right.
Tips don’t count
Since the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, qualifying tips must be passed to staff fairly and in full — but they cannot count towards minimum wage. Your basic pay has to meet the rate before any tips are added.
The faster way
WagePilot stores each person’s pay rate against their profile and pulls hours from real clock-ins rather than memory, then warns you when a rate would breach the minimum wage for someone’s age before it ever reaches payroll. For the record-keeping side of compliance, see our guide on how long to keep wage records.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check GOV.UK or a qualified adviser for your situation. WagePilot handles the tracking automatically, but you remain responsible for your own compliance.