UK minimum wage (April 2026 rates)
The legal hourly pay floor: £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026, with lower bands for younger workers and first-year apprentices.
What is the UK minimum wage?
From April 2026 the National Living Wage — the legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over — is £12.71 an hour. The younger bands are £10.85 at 18 to 20 and £8 under 18. Apprentices aged under 19, or 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship, get the £8 apprentice rate; after that first year, an apprentice aged 19 or over moves to their age band.
The minimum is judged on average pay for the time worked in each pay reference period (a maximum of 31 days), so unpaid working time and deductions can break it even when the headline rate looks compliant. Accommodation is the one benefit with a set offset — £11.10 a day (£77.70 a week) from April 2026: charging more than the offset reduces the pay that counts for the minimum wage, while free accommodation adds the offset to it.
Compliance is actively enforced. Employers must keep records sufficient to prove minimum-wage pay for at least 6 years, and HMRC can require arrears to be repaid immediately, fine the employer and publicly name offenders.
What matters
Start with the rule
From April 2026 the National Living Wage — the legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over — is £12.71 an hour. The younger bands are £10.85 at 18 to 20 and £8 under 18. Apprentices aged under 19, or 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship, get the £8 apprentice rate; after that first year, an apprentice aged 19 or over moves to their age band.
Write down the decision
Keep the policy, dates, calculation inputs and decision together so another person can understand what happened.
Check the current source
Minimum wage rates change every April. Check the live GOV.UK rates table before each April pay run and before quoting any rate.
A practical checklist
For a small team, a short repeatable process beats an impressive policy nobody follows.
- Check every worker against the current April rates table, not last year's
- Diary the April rate change and birthdays that move someone up a band
- Move apprentices aged 19 or over onto their age band after the first year
- Count the time actually worked in the pay reference period, not just rostered hours
- Apply the accommodation offset rules wherever housing is provided
- Keep pay and hours records that prove compliance for at least 6 years
Where software helps — and where it does not
HollyHR can keep the relevant people record, dates, documents, leave and working pattern in one place. It cannot decide a legal, medical or employee-relations question for you.
Minimum wage rates change every April. Check the live GOV.UK rates table before each April pay run and before quoting any rate.
Check the source, not just our summary
Rules and product pages change. These are the first-party references behind this page.
GOV.UK: minimum wage rates
Use the live source for the current rule and any exceptions.
Open source ↗GOV.UK: accommodation offset
Use the live source for the current rule and any exceptions.
Open source ↗GOV.UK: employers and the minimum wage
Use the live source for the current rule and any exceptions.
Open source ↗Questions people ask
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a practical summary for UK small teams. Check the linked official guidance and take qualified advice for a specific or disputed case.
Why keep the source with the calculation?
Rates and rules change. Recording the inputs, date and source makes the answer reviewable instead of becoming an unexplained number in a spreadsheet.
Can HollyHR track this?
HollyHR can hold the underlying employee, working-pattern, leave and document records. It does not present itself as a legal-advice engine.
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