National Minimum Wage UK (2026): Rates by Age and How to Check You Pay It

If you employ anyone in the UK — a Saturday assistant, a chef, an apprentice or a salaried office manager — you must pay at least the National Minimum Wage for every hour they work. The hourly rates are simple. The traps are not: uniform deductions, salary sacrifice, unpaid training time and long weeks for salaried staff all pull pay below the legal line without anyone noticing. This guide gives the April 2026 rates for each age band, then shows small employers how to check pay the way HMRC does, with worked examples in pounds, the penalties and naming rules, and what's known so far about April 2027.

Quick answer

From 1 April 2026 the UK minimum hourly rates are £12.71 an hour at 21 and over (the National Living Wage), £10.85 an hour at 18 to 20, £8.00 an hour under 18 and £8.00 an hour for apprentices. They apply to workers, not just employees, in every UK nation. You must pay at least the right rate on average for each pay reference period, after taking off deductions that count against minimum wage pay.

• Accommodation offset: £11.10 a day (£77.70 a week) — the only benefit in kind that counts

• Tips, overtime and shift premiums, most allowances and benefits in kind don't count towards minimum wage pay

• Salary sacrifice and deductions for uniforms or tools can push pay below the minimum

• Penalty: 200% of arrears up to £20,000 per worker, plus public naming from £500 of arrears

• April 2027 rates are due to be announced this autumn — the LPC's April estimate was £13.02 to £13.34

National Minimum Wage rates from 1 April 2026

There are two names for the same legal floor. The National Living Wage is the top rate, for workers aged 21 and over. The National Minimum Wage covers the lower age bands and apprentices. Both come from the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, and both are set each year by the government after advice from the Low Pay Commission (LPC). For April 2026 the government accepted the LPC's recommendations in full.

The big jump is for 18 to 20-year-olds. The government wants to bring them onto the National Living Wage, and the LPC's advice sets a path towards extending the full rate to 20-year-olds in 2027 and to 18 and 19-year-olds in 2028 or 2029, depending on the economy. If your business relies on younger staff — hospitality, retail, leisure — budget for this gap closing quickly.

When the new rate applies

The increase takes effect from the first pay reference period that starts on or after 1 April. A pay reference period is simply the period a payment covers — a week for weekly-paid staff, a month for monthly-paid — and it can never be longer than a month. If your monthly payroll runs from the 16th to the 15th, the old rate applies until 15 April and the new rate from 16 April. The same rule applies when a worker has a birthday that moves them into a higher band: the higher rate starts with the next pay reference period after the birthday. The government's checklist names missed birthdays and missed 1 April increases as two of the most common causes of underpayment.

Apprentices

The apprentice rate of £8.00 an hour applies to apprentices aged under 19, and to apprentices aged 19 or over in the first year of their apprenticeship. Once a 19-year-old or older apprentice completes their first year, they must get the full rate for their age — £10.85 an hour at 19 or 20, £12.71 an hour at 21 and over. The apprentice rate can't be used before the apprenticeship formally starts, after it ends, or for someone who isn't on a genuine apprenticeship. Time spent training or studying as part of the apprenticeship, including off-the-job training, counts as working time and must be paid.

Who must be paid the minimum wage

The minimum wage covers workers, which is wider than employees. Part-time staff, casual labourers hired for a single day, agency workers, piece-rate workers, homeworkers, trainees and staff on probation, seasonal agricultural workers, foreign workers and non-family members living in your home, such as au pairs, are all entitled. Calling someone a "freelancer" doesn't change the answer if in practice they work under your control as a worker.

Some people aren't entitled, and the line matters most for owner-managed businesses and family firms.

Who is and isn't entitled to the minimum wage

Entitled	Not entitled
Part-time, casual and zero-hours workers	Genuinely self-employed people running their own business
Agency workers, homeworkers and piece-rate workers	Company directors without an employment contract
Trainees, staff on probation and apprentices	Volunteers and voluntary workers
Seasonal agricultural workers and foreign workers	Family members living in the employer's home
Non-family members living in your home, such as au pairs	Children under school leaving age; students on a course placement of up to a year

Part-time, casual and zero-hours workers

Not entitled

Genuinely self-employed people running their own business

Agency workers, homeworkers and piece-rate workers

Not entitled

Company directors without an employment contract

Trainees, staff on probation and apprentices

Not entitled

Volunteers and voluntary workers

Seasonal agricultural workers and foreign workers

Not entitled

Family members living in the employer's home

Non-family members living in your home, such as au pairs

Not entitled

Children under school leaving age; students on a course placement of up to a year

Work trials, unpaid internships and "experience" days are a frequent source of claims. If someone is doing real work that benefits the business — serving customers, producing goods — they're probably a worker and must be paid, however short the trial. The agency workers guide explains who pays the minimum wage when staff come through an agency: it's the agency or umbrella, but you share the reputational risk.

How minimum wage pay is checked

HMRC doesn't compare your advertised hourly rate with the minimum. It works out an average hourly rate for each pay reference period: minimum wage pay for the period divided by the hours that count as working time in that period. If the result is below the worker's rate, you owe the difference. A worker paid more than enough one month can still be underpaid the next.

To check pay the same way:

1. Decide what type of work the person does. There are four: time work (paid by the hour), salaried hours work (paid an annual salary for a set number of basic hours), output work (paid per piece or task) and unmeasured work (no set hours). Each has its own rules for counting hours.
2. Start with gross pay for the pay reference period.
3. Take out anything that doesn't count as minimum wage pay, such as premiums and allowances.
4. Subtract deductions and payments by the worker that reduce minimum wage pay, such as unreimbursed uniform costs or accommodation charges above the offset.
5. Divide by the hours that count, including training, required waiting time and travel between assignments.
6. Compare with the right rate for the worker's age and apprentice status.

Pay earned in one period but paid in the next — commission, overtime after the payroll cut-off — still counts towards the period in which it was earned. Delay it by more than one period and it counts only when paid. An annual bonus counts mainly in the period it's paid, with one-twelfth allowed back into the previous month for monthly-paid staff.

What counts as pay — and what doesn't

This is where most honest employers go wrong. Several things you pay for don't count towards the minimum wage at all.

Minimum wage pay — what's in and what's out

Counts towards minimum wage pay	Doesn't count
Basic pay for the hours worked	Tips, gratuities, service charges and cover charges
Different basic rates for different jobs	The premium part of overtime, weekend, night or bank holiday rates
Performance bonuses, commission and incentive pay	Allowances for unsocial hours, London weighting, on-call or attendance — unless consolidated
Free living accommodation, up to the offset	Benefits in kind: meals, cars, vouchers
Allowances consolidated into standard pay (premium element excluded)	Expense reimbursements, loans, advances, pension payments, redundancy pay

Basic pay for the hours worked

Doesn't count

Tips, gratuities, service charges and cover charges

Different basic rates for different jobs

Doesn't count

The premium part of overtime, weekend, night or bank holiday rates

Performance bonuses, commission and incentive pay

Doesn't count

Allowances for unsocial hours, London weighting, on-call or attendance — unless consolidated

Free living accommodation, up to the offset

Doesn't count

Benefits in kind: meals, cars, vouchers

Allowances consolidated into standard pay (premium element excluded)

Doesn't count

Expense reimbursements, loans, advances, pension payments, redundancy pay

Premiums. For time and output workers, only the basic rate counts. If someone earns £12.30 basic and £13.50 for Sunday hours, the extra £1.20 is ignored. That means a worker can look well paid on average and still be underpaid on the basic rate.

Tips. Tips and service charges never count, whether customers pay them directly, through a tronc or through your payroll. They must also be passed on to staff in full under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, so you can't top up low basic pay with them.

Allowances. A separate allowance for unsocial hours, working in London or being on call doesn't count unless it's genuinely consolidated into standard pay — for example, it rises with annual pay awards, is pensionable or is used to calculate overtime. Even then, any part that is really a premium is stripped out.

Benefits in kind. Free meals, a company car, childcare vouchers and gym memberships have no value for minimum wage purposes. The only exception is living accommodation, covered below.

Deductions and salary sacrifice: the hidden underpayments

Many of the businesses named each year aren't paying £10 an hour. They pay above the rate, then take money back in ways the law treats as reducing pay.

Uniforms and work clothing. If you require specific clothing — a branded polo, a particular style of shoe, even "plain black trousers" bought by the worker — and you don't reimburse it, the cost reduces minimum wage pay. That applies whether you deduct it from wages or the worker buys it elsewhere. Charges for normal wear-and-tear cleaning or replacement also count. A reasonable charge for a uniform the worker lost or damaged through misconduct, under a contractual term, doesn't.

Tools, equipment and fees. Deductions or payments for tools, protective equipment you're legally required to provide, required training, DBS checks or work licences reduce minimum wage pay, as do admin fees you charge for handling attachment of earnings orders.

Deductions for your own use. Any deduction for the employer's own use and benefit — including a Christmas savings club where you hold the money — reduces pay, even if the worker joined voluntarily.

Salary sacrifice. This is the trap that catches the most well-meaning employers. A salary sacrifice reduces the worker's contractual pay in exchange for a benefit — extra pension contributions, cycle-to-work, a car, childcare vouchers, workplace parking. Because it's a reduction rather than a deduction, minimum wage pay is reduced by the sacrificed amount, and each extra scheme reduces it further. The government guidance looks at what the arrangement really is, not what you call it.

The Fair Work Agency's enforcement statement contains a narrow concession: where the only cause of underpayment is a deduction or salary sacrifice in a permitted category, agreed by the worker, who received the benefit in full, the employer won't be fined or named. You must still repay the arrears, and the concession doesn't cover uniforms, work expenses or accommodation, or employers with a previous notice of underpayment. Don't rely on it — check pay before any low-paid worker joins a scheme. Pension tax relief explains the separate tax side of salary sacrifice.

The accommodation offset

Living accommodation is the only benefit in kind that counts towards minimum wage pay, and only up to a fixed amount: the accommodation offset, £11.10 a day or £77.70 a week from 1 April 2026. The figure doesn't reflect local rents or what the property costs you. It exists to stop employers clawing back wages through high rent.

The rules work in three ways:

• Free accommodation: add the offset to the worker's pay for minimum wage purposes, for each day the accommodation is provided.
• Charged at or below the offset: the charge doesn't affect minimum wage pay.
• Charged above the offset: the excess over the offset is subtracted from minimum wage pay.

Charges for gas, electricity, water or furniture that the worker must pay as a condition of the accommodation count as part of the accommodation charge. You're treated as providing accommodation not only when you own it, but also when it's tied to the job, when a connected business or family member is the landlord, or when you or your directors receive a benefit from a third-party landlord. Hotels, farms, care homes and pubs with live-in staff are the businesses most affected.

Worked checks in pounds

The examples below use the April 2026 rates. Names and businesses are illustrative.

1. A salary that looks fine but isn't. Dan, 24, is a salaried assistant manager on £26,400 a year with a contract for 40 basic hours a week. His basic hours for the year are 40 × 52 = 2,080, so his rate is £26,400 ÷ 2,080 = £12.69 an hour — below £12.71 an hour. The shortfall is about £37 a year, but the business is still in breach. If Dan also works unpaid extra hours beyond his basic hours, the shortfall usually shows up in the last pay period of the year, when the extra hours are counted.

2. A uniform deduction. Amira, 22, works 30 hours a week in a café at £12.75 an hour, earning £382.50. Her employer deducts £15 for two branded T-shirts. Minimum wage pay is £382.50 − £15 = £367.50, or £12.25 an hour. She should have had at least 30 × £12.71 an hour = £381.30 that week, so the underpayment is £13.80. Supplying the T-shirts free, or paying more, fixes it.

3. Accommodation above the offset. Piotr, 30, works 40 hours a week on a fruit farm at £13.00 an hour, earning £520. He pays £100 a week for a caravan on site. The charge is £22.30 above the offset of £77.70 a week, so minimum wage pay is £520 − £22.30 = £497.70, or £12.44 an hour. He's owed 40 × £12.71 an hour − £497.70 = £10.70 for the week. Cutting the rent to £77.70 or less, or raising pay, puts it right.

4. Free accommodation. A live-in kitchen porter, 25, works 40 hours a week for £480 in cash wages (£12.00 an hour) and lives rent-free in the pub's staff room for seven days. Minimum wage pay is £480 + £77.70 = £557.70, or £13.94 an hour — compliant.

5. Salary sacrifice. Leanne, 28, earns £12.90 an hour for a 37.5-hour week, so £483.75. She sacrifices 5% (£24.19) into her pension. Her minimum wage pay becomes £459.56, which is £12.25 an hour. That's an underpayment of about £17 a week, even though the sacrifice benefits her.

Check an effective hourly rateFree, no login — turn a salary or weekly pay into an hourly figure, then compare it with the rate for the worker's age.

Working time that must be paid

Underpayments also come from hours that aren't recorded. Under the minimum wage rules, you must pay for time when the worker is at work and required to be available, even if there's nothing to do; for handovers, security checks and opening or closing duties added to a shift; for training you require; and for travel between assignments during the working day, such as a care worker driving between clients. Ordinary commuting between home and a fixed workplace isn't working time. Sleep-in shifts follow separate rules, so care providers should read the government's sleep-in guidance before setting rates.

For salaried staff, set a realistic number of basic hours in the contract and track extra hours. If a manager regularly works 48 hours on a 40-hour contract, the extra time is added at the end of the year and can drag the average below the minimum.

Penalties, arrears and the naming list

Since 7 April 2026, the minimum wage has been enforced by the new Fair Work Agency, set up under the Employment Rights Act 2025. In practice HMRC compliance officers still do the investigations, acting as Fair Work Agency enforcement officers. They can open a case after a worker complaint or through targeted risk work, and don't need to give a reason. They can enter premises, require records and interview staff.

If they find underpayment, they issue a notice of underpayment. It requires you to pay arrears to each worker and a penalty of 200% of the arrears, with a £100 minimum and a cap of £20,000 per worker per worker. The penalty is halved if you pay the arrears and the reduced penalty within 14 days. You can appeal to an employment tribunal within 28 days.

Arrears are calculated at today's rates, not the rate when the underpayment happened. The formula is: underpayment ÷ the rate at the time × the current rate for the same age band. A £50 shortfall from a 2025-26 pay period when the rate was £12.21 an hour becomes £50 ÷ £12.21 × £12.71 = £52.05 today. Workers can also claim in an employment tribunal or civil court, and in those cases it's for you to prove you paid enough.

What happens after an underpayment is found

Investigation

HMRC officers, acting for the Fair Work Agency, review records and interview staff

Notice of underpayment

Arrears at current rates plus a penalty of 200% of arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker per worker

Within 14 days

Pay arrears and half the penalty to get the 50% reduction

Within 28 days

Deadline to appeal the notice to an employment tribunal

After case closure

Referral for naming if arrears were £500 or more

Naming. Employers whose total arrears are £500 or more are considered for public naming, and the threshold drops to more than £100 for repeat offenders. You get a notification letter and 14 days to argue that an exceptional circumstance applies, such as a risk of personal harm. The first naming round since the Fair Work Agency launched, on 3 September 2026, listed 658 employers, who had repaid about £4 million to more than 27,000 workers and been issued about £7 million in penalties. Big names appear on the lists alongside cafés, salons and care providers, and many breaches were technical: deductions, salary sacrifice and unpaid working time.

Criminal offences. Refusing or wilfully neglecting to pay the minimum wage, failing to keep records, falsifying records and obstructing an officer are all criminal offences. Deliberate non-payment can lead to an unlimited fine.

Putting it right yourself. If a self-review finds you've underpaid, pay the arrears at current rates straight away. You can tell HMRC through a voluntary declaration (email [email protected] for the form). Other than in exceptional cases, accepted voluntary declarations aren't named or penalised.

Records you must keep

You must keep records that prove each worker was paid at least the minimum wage for every pay reference period, and be able to produce them for one worker and one period in a single document. Records must be kept for at least 6 years after the end of the pay reference period following the one they cover. Failing to keep them is a criminal offence in its own right.

A worker who believes they've been underpaid can ask in writing to see their records. You must produce them within 14 days, or a longer period you both agree. If you don't, a tribunal can award the worker 80 times the hourly minimum wage — over £1,000 at the National Living Wage.

Minimum wage checks for every payroll

0/10

• New rates applied from the first pay period starting on or after 1 April
• Birthdays at 18 and 21 trigger the higher rate from the next pay period
• Apprentices aged 19+ moved to their age rate after the first year
• Salaried staff: salary ÷ basic annual hours is above the rate, and extra hours are tracked
• No unreimbursed uniform, tool, training or licence costs pushing pay below the rate
• Salary sacrifice and savings deductions checked against minimum wage pay
• Accommodation charges at or below the offset, utilities included
• Training, handovers, waiting time and travel between jobs recorded and paid
• Tips and premiums excluded from the check
• Pay records kept for 6 years and retrievable per worker per period

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What's next: April 2027 rates

The government asked the Low Pay Commission in March 2026 to recommend the April 2027 rates by the end of October 2026. The National Living Wage must keep at least two-thirds of median hourly earnings, and the LPC must also weigh inflation, jobs and business costs. The remit asks it to keep moving the 18 to 20 rate towards the National Living Wage at a pace that protects young people's jobs, to recommend under-18 and apprentice rates, and to set a new accommodation offset.

In its April 2026 consultation letter, the LPC estimated that hitting the target would mean a National Living Wage of £13.02 to £13.34 from April 2027, with a central estimate of £13.18 an hour. Those figures are indicative only. The government usually announces the accepted rates in late autumn, often alongside the Budget, and they take effect on 1 April 2027. This page will be updated when they're confirmed. For planning, a small employer with ten staff on the National Living Wage working 30 hours a week would see wages rise by roughly £7,300 a year at the central estimate, before employer National Insurance at 15% and pension contributions.

Official links

• National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage ratesCurrent and past rates
• Calculating the minimum wage (employer manual)What counts as pay, hours, deductions, records
• Accommodation and the minimum wageOffset rates and examples
• Minimum wage calculator for employersCheck current or past pay
• Fair Work Agency enforcement statementPenalties and naming policy
• Low Pay CommissionRecommendations for April 2027

What to do next

Run the five checks above against last month's payroll, starting with anyone on or near £12.71 an hour, apprentices and anyone in a salary sacrifice scheme. If you're taking on your first member of staff, register as an employer and set up payslips with the salary slip generator. From April 2026, sickness affects pay from the first day too — see the Statutory Sick Pay guide. For questions, the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100 is free and can pass complex cases to the HMRC minimum wage team.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

What is the National Minimum Wage in the UK in 2026?

From 1 April 2026 the hourly rates are £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage), £10.85 an hour for 18 to 20-year-olds, £8.00 an hour for under-18s above school leaving age and £8.00 an hour for apprentices on the apprentice rate. The rates apply across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and normally change every 1 April.

Who gets the apprentice minimum wage rate?

Apprentices aged under 19, and apprentices aged 19 or over who are in the first year of their apprenticeship, can be paid the apprentice rate of £8.00 an hour. Once an apprentice aged 19 or over completes the first year, they must get the full rate for their age. The rate applies only to genuine apprentices — not before the apprenticeship starts or after it ends — and training time must be paid.

Can salary sacrifice take an employee below the minimum wage?

Yes, and that's an underpayment. A salary sacrifice reduces contractual pay, so it reduces pay for minimum wage purposes too. If a worker's pay after the sacrifice — for a pension, cycle-to-work or childcare scheme — falls below their minimum wage rate for the hours worked, you owe arrears. Check every pay period before letting low-paid staff join a scheme, or cap the sacrifice.

Does free accommodation count towards the minimum wage?

Only up to the accommodation offset, which is £11.10 a day (£77.70 a week) from 1 April 2026. Free living accommodation adds that amount to pay for minimum wage purposes. If you charge more than the offset for rent, utilities or furniture, the excess reduces minimum wage pay. Food, cars and other benefits in kind never count.

What will the minimum wage be in April 2027?

It hasn't been decided yet. The Low Pay Commission must send its recommendations to the government by the end of October 2026, and the government normally announces the rates in the autumn. In April 2026 the Commission estimated the National Living Wage would need to be £13.02 to £13.34 from April 2027 to stay at two-thirds of median earnings, with a central estimate of £13.18 an hour.

What happens if an employer underpays the minimum wage?

HMRC, acting for the Fair Work Agency, can issue a notice of underpayment requiring arrears at today's rates plus a penalty of 200% of the arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker. The penalty is halved if you pay within 14 days. Employers owing £500 or more can be publicly named, and deliberate non-payment is a criminal offence.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
2. 2.LPC recommendations take the National Living Wage to £12.71 — Low Pay Commission · accessed 9 October 2026
3. 3.Accommodation and the minimum wage — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.Calculating the minimum wage — calculating the minimum wage — Department for Business and Trade · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.Calculating the minimum wage — enforcing the minimum wage — Department for Business and Trade · accessed 9 October 2026
6. 6.Calculating the minimum wage — a checklist for employers — Department for Business and Trade · accessed 9 October 2026
7. 7.Fair Work Agency enforcement statement — Fair Work Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
8. 8.Nearly 660 employers announced as failing to pay the minimum wage — Department for Business and Trade / Fair Work Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
9. 9.Low Pay Commission remit 2026 — Department for Business and Trade · accessed 9 October 2026
10. 10.LPC consultation letter 2026 — Low Pay Commission · accessed 9 October 2026
11. 11.The National Minimum Wage: who gets the minimum wage — GOV.UK · accessed 9 October 2026