UK minimum wage rates from April 2027 explained

On 29 October 2026, the UK Government confirmed that minimum wage rates will rise from April 2027 after accepting the Low Pay Commission's recommendations in full. For workers aged 21 and over, the National Living Wage will go up by 50p to £13.21 an hour, which is a 3.9 per cent increase. If you are a student with a part-time job, an apprentice checking your pay, or a teacher helping a class make sense of labour-market policy, this matters more than it first appears. These rates set the legal floor for pay, which means employers cannot go below them.

The new rates are easier to follow once we strip away the official wording. Workers aged 21 and over will be entitled to at least £13.21 an hour. Workers aged 18 to 20 will get £11.27. Workers aged 16 to 17 will get £8.31. Apprentices on the apprentice rate will also get £8.31. The accommodation offset will rise to £11.53 a day, which is the amount an employer can count when accommodation is provided. **What this means:** a 50p hourly rise can sound modest in a headline, but over a 40-hour week it is about £20 extra before tax for someone on the adult rate. That is why even small percentage changes can make a visible difference to a payslip.

One reason this story can confuse people is the name. The Government's National Living Wage is the legal minimum rate for workers aged 21 and over. It is not the same as the voluntary UK Living Wage or London Living Wage, which are set by the Living Wage Foundation and are based on living costs rather than a legal pay floor. That distinction matters because different minimum wage bands still apply to younger workers. So yes, two people doing similar jobs can legally be on different minimum rates if they fall into different age groups or apprenticeship rules. Whether that feels fair is a political argument as well as an economic one.

The Low Pay Commission, which advises ministers on wage rates, says it was trying to strike a balance between protecting low-paid workers and avoiding extra pressure on employers. In its announcement, the Commission said the economy has grown more strongly than expected this year, but that growth has not turned into stronger hiring. It also pointed to worries about another energy price shock. That helps explain why the increase is steady rather than dramatic. The Government accepted that advice in full, so the 2027 rates are not a surprise add-on from ministers; they are the rates recommended by the independent body set up to study pay and employment.

One of the most technical phrases in the original announcement is two thirds of median earnings. In plain English, median earnings are what the worker in the middle of the pay scale earns. The long-term aim in the Government's remit is for the National Living Wage to reach about two thirds of that middle point. The Low Pay Commission says this year's rate does not quite get there, but it still moves in that direction. This is useful to understand because minimum wage policy is not only about adding pence to an hourly rate. It is also about deciding where the legal pay floor should sit compared with typical pay across the country. Raise it too slowly, and low-paid work falls behind. Raise it too quickly, and some employers may cut hours or slow recruitment.

The Commission also says the 3.9 per cent rise should stay ahead of inflation between April 2027 and March 2028. In everyday language, that means it expects the new wage floor to protect workers' buying power in real terms. If pay rises faster than prices, workers should be better off rather than simply keeping up. **What this means:** when economists talk about real-terms pay, they are asking a simple question. After bills and prices rise, is the wage actually worth more? On the evidence used by the Low Pay Commission, the answer for these rates is meant to be yes.

The most debated part of the decision is the treatment of younger workers. The Government still says it wants, over time, to lower the National Living Wage age threshold from 21 to 18. Over the last four years, the 18 to 20 rate has moved closer to the adult rate. But for 2027, the Commission says demand for young workers has slowed, so it wants to pause any faster catch-up and give that group the same 3.9 per cent rise as the adult rate. For 16 to 17-year-olds, the Commission notes that most are in full-time education and that employment has worsened in recent years. It says the evidence does not clearly show that minimum wage rises caused that decline, but it still sees bigger jumps as risky. That does not mean younger people's work matters less. It means policy makers are trying, rightly or wrongly, to avoid making entry-level jobs harder to get.

Apprentices have their own rule as well. Apprentices of any age can be paid the apprentice rate in the first year of their apprenticeship, and after that many move onto the age-based minimum wage that applies to them. The Low Pay Commission says apprentice vacancies have fallen faster than vacancies across the wider economy, but it does not think the apprentice rate is the main cause. Even so, it heard concern from employers about costs and chose the same 3.9 per cent rise. The Commission submitted its recommendations on 23 October 2026, and a fuller annual report is due in the new year. For readers, the practical check is simple: from April 2027, look at your age, whether you are in the first year of an apprenticeship, and whether your hourly pay matches the correct legal minimum.