National Living Wage 2027: How Much Will Your Pay Rise From April?

National Living Wage 2027: the short answer

Expect roughly £13.18 an hour from 1 April 2027, but treat it as an estimate until the government confirms it. The Low Pay Commission (LPC) must send its recommendations by the end of October 2026, and in recent years the government has announced them just before the Budget, which this year is on Wednesday 28 October.

As of 23 October 2026, the GOV.UK National Minimum Wage rates page still lists April 2026 as the latest rates, and no official April 2027 figure has been published. The best guide is the LPC’s own projection, published on 1 April 2026: a central estimate of £13.18 within an illustrative range of £13.02 to £13.34, which is what it would take to keep the rate at two-thirds of median hourly earnings.

That central estimate is a 3.7% rise, smaller than the 4.1% in April 2026 and far below the 9.8% in April 2024. It also matches the latest official pay growth figure: ONS regular pay growth was 3.7% in June to August 2026. In other words, the adult minimum wage is now tracking typical wages, not racing ahead of them.

What will the minimum wage be in April 2027?

The LPC’s central estimate for the 21-and-over rate is £13.18 an hour from 1 April 2027, with an illustrative range of £13.02 to £13.34 (a 2.4% to 5.0% rise). All of these figures are above £13, so a rate starting with 13 is very likely, but the exact pence will only be known when the government announces it.

The government’s remit to the LPC, published on 16 March 2026, says two-thirds of median hourly earnings should remain “the key reference point” for the National Living Wage. It also asks the Commission to weigh labour market conditions, inflation forecasts for April 2027 to March 2028, and the impact on business. The remit gives no figure of its own.

In its consultation letter of 1 April 2026, the LPC said the range was “only an illustrative guide” and could move with economic conditions. We found no updated summer 2026 projection on GOV.UK. (In 2025 the LPC published one in August; trade bodies we checked still quote the April 2026 figures.) The letter is also slightly inconsistent: it describes the top of the range as a 5.0% rise in one place and 4.9% in another.

Since it launched at £7.20 in April 2016, the top rate has risen 76.5% to £12.71 (12.71 ÷ 7.20). At £13.18 it would be 83.1% above its starting level. The biggest jumps came in 2023 (9.7%) and 2024 (9.8%), when the government was pushing the rate up to the two-thirds target during high inflation.

How much more will a full-time worker take home?

At the £13.18 estimate, a 37.5-hour week pays £25,701 a year gross, up £916.50, and about £22,024.32 after tax and NI, up £659.88 (about £55 a month). That assumes the £12,570 personal allowance and NI threshold stay where they are in 2027/28 and a standard tax code in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Our method is simple and shown in full. Annual hours = 37.5 × 52 = 1,950. Gross pay = hourly rate × 1,950. Income tax = 20% × (gross − £12,570). Employee NI = 8% × (gross − £12,570). Take-home = gross − tax − NI. Payroll works these out each pay period, so real payslips can differ by a few pence.

The share kept is the same at every point in the range: 72%, because each extra pound above £12,570 loses 20p to income tax and 8p to NI. On the central estimate that turns a £916.50 gross rise into £659.88 in the bank, or £54.99 a month.

Part-time workers keep a larger share because more of their pay sits under the allowance. At 20 hours a week, the £13.18 estimate gives £13,707.20 gross and £13,388.78 take-home, £351.93 more than at £12.71. Try your own hours in the calculator.

What does the auto-enrolment pension take from minimum wage pay?

If you are auto-enrolled, about 4% of your earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 comes out of your take-home pay, and tax relief tops it up to 5%. At the £13.18 estimate on 37.5 hours, that is £778.44 a year from your pay, leaving about £21,245.88 take-home.

Workplace pension minimums are 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer, worked out on “qualifying earnings” between £6,240 and £50,270 a year. Employers must automatically enrol staff earning over £10,000 a year. These thresholds were frozen for 2026/27.

GOV.UK’s worked example shows how the 5% splits: you pay £40, tax relief adds £10, your employer adds £30. So on a relief-at-source scheme the employee’s 5% costs 4% of qualifying earnings in take-home pay. At £13.18: qualifying earnings £19,461 (£25,701 − £6,240), your cost £778.44, tax relief £194.61, employer £583.83, so £1,556.88 a year goes into your pension pot.

Under a “net pay” scheme the 5% is taken before tax instead; for a basic-rate taxpayer the take-home cost is similar. Check which one your employer uses on your payslip or pension paperwork.

What happens to the 18–20 rate and apprentice rate in 2027?

The 18 to 20 rate is £10.85 and the under-18 and apprentice rates are £8.00 from April 2026; no 2027 figures have been published. The government says it will merge the 18 to 20 rate into the adult rate, but it has given the LPC “full flexibility” over the pace and timing.

Youth rates have been rising much faster than the adult rate. The 18 to 20 rate rose 16.3% in April 2025 and 8.5% in April 2026, and it now stands at about 85% of the adult rate (£10.85 ÷ £12.71 = 85.4%). The LPC says that is a similar proportion to the early years of the minimum wage.

One concrete option is on the table. In its April 2026 report the LPC noted that lowering the National Living Wage age to 20 “next year” would cut the 2027 reference point by roughly 10p, because 20-year-olds tend to earn less than older workers. Whether that happens in April 2027 is not yet known.

• Apprentice rate Applies if you are under 19, or 19 or over and in the first year of your apprenticeship. After the first year, apprentices aged 19 or over must get the rate for their age.
• Full-time gap At 37.5 hours, an 18 to 20-year-old on £10.85 earns £21,157.50 a year, £3,627 less gross than a 21-year-old on £12.71, for the same job.
• Share of young workers on the minimum The LPC projects that 18.2% of 18 to 20-year-old jobs were paid the youth rate in April 2026, compared with 5.9% of jobs for the adult rate.

Is the National Living Wage really two-thirds of median earnings?

Yes, roughly: the rate reached the two-thirds-of-median target in 2024, and the 2027 estimate is designed to keep it there rather than raise it further. That is why the 2027 rise (3.7%) is close to average pay growth instead of the near-10% jumps seen in 2023 and 2024.

• 2016: target set The National Living Wage launched at £7.20 with an aim of 60% of median earnings by 2020.
• 2020: 60% reached The House of Commons Library records that the 60% target was hit in 2020.
• 2024: two-thirds target The government then asked for two-thirds of median hourly pay by 2024. The LPC’s central estimate for that was £11.16; the rate set was £11.44, above the top of its range.
• 2025 to 2027: maintain Each remit since has asked to maintain two-thirds. The Resolution Foundation expected the bite to be about two-thirds in 2025.

A KalQLater inference: if £13.18 equals two-thirds of the LPC’s projected median for workers aged 21 and over in October 2027, that implies a projected median of about £19.77 an hour (13.18 × 1.5). This is our arithmetic, not an LPC figure.

The Resolution Foundation has argued for raising the bite by about one percentage point a year, reaching 70% by 2028, roughly half the 2016 to 2024 pace. The current remit does not ask for that. It found the adult minimum wage rose 32% in real terms between 2015 and 2024, against 9% for average wages.

How accurate are the LPC’s early estimates?

In each of the last three years the final rate landed at or above the LPC’s spring central estimate. In 2024 it beat the top of the range, in 2025 it came in 32p above the spring figure, and in 2026 it matched the summer update exactly. That makes £13.18 a reasonable planning number, but not a ceiling.

The misses in 2024 and 2025 came when wage growth ran hotter than forecast, which pushes up the median the rate is pegged to. Pay growth has now cooled to 3.7%, close to the LPC’s assumption, which is why a smaller gap is more likely this year. That is a judgement, not a forecast.

How much does a minimum wage worker cost an employer in 2027?

At £13.18 on 37.5 hours, a worker aged 21 or over costs £28,806.15 a year in pay and employer NI, about £1,053.97 more than at £12.71. Add the 3% minimum pension contribution (£583.83) and the total is £29,389.98. Employer NI is 15% on pay above £5,000 a year.

Employer NI rose to 15% and the threshold fell to £5,000 from April 2025. The Resolution Foundation calculated that, combined with the 2025 minimum wage rise, labour costs for a part-time adult minimum wage worker jumped 14.2%, the largest since the minimum wage began in 1999. Under-21s were not affected by the NI increase.

Small firms can offset some of this with the Employment Allowance, now £10,500 a year. The Resolution Foundation noted, though, that only 8% of low-paid workers were at employers where it fully covered the 2025 NI rise.

Real Living Wage vs National Living Wage: what is the difference?

The voluntary Real Living Wage is £14.10 an hour (£15.45 in London) from 15 October 2026, which is £1.39 above today’s legal minimum and 92p above the 2027 estimate. It is set from the cost of living rather than median pay, and employers choose whether to pay it.

On our numbers, a full-time worker on the Real Living Wage takes home £1,291.68 a year more than one on the 2027 National Living Wage estimate. For the employer the gap is bigger: £30,869.25 in pay and employer NI at £14.10, against £28,806.15 at £13.18.

How to check your payslip and report minimum wage underpayment

From your first payday after 1 April 2027, divide your basic pay by the hours you worked; if the result is below the new rate for your age, report it. You can complain to HMRC online, even if you have left the job, and ask that your name is not shared with your employer.

1. 1
   Watch for the announcement

   Rates are expected around the Budget on 28 October 2026 and will appear on the GOV.UK National Minimum Wage rates page. They take effect on 1 April 2027.

2. 2
   Check your age band

   21 and over gets the National Living Wage. 18 to 20, under 18 and apprentice rates are lower.

3. 3
   Do the hourly check

   Take your gross pay for the pay period and divide by the hours you actually worked. GOV.UK’s minimum wage calculator can also check whether an employer owes you money from the previous year.

4. 4
   Apprentices: count your first year

   If you are 19 or over and have finished the first year of your apprenticeship, you must be paid at least the rate for your age, not the £8.00 apprentice rate.

5. 5
   Raise it with your employer

   Many mistakes are payroll errors after 1 April. Ask in writing for a correction and back pay.

6. 6
   Get advice or complain

   Call Acas on 0300 123 1100 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm) for free, confidential advice, or use HMRC’s “Complain about pay and work rights” form. HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency. You cannot use it if you have already started a tribunal claim on the same issue.

Want to see how the tax side works for pensioners on the same frozen allowance? Read our guide to State Pension tax and the £12,570 personal allowance. For a European comparison, see the Germany minimum wage 2027.

Claims vs evidence

Frequently asked questions

How we built this analysis

• Rates: April 2016 to April 2026 rates come from GOV.UK and the House of Commons Library (CBP-7735). The April 2027 figures are the Low Pay Commission’s projection from its 1 April 2026 consultation letter and uprating report (central £13.18, range £13.02–£13.34), not a confirmed rate.
• Full-time pay: annual hours = 37.5 × 52 = 1,950. Gross = hourly rate × 1,950. Example: £13.18 × 1,950 = £25,701.00; £12.71 × 1,950 = £24,784.50; difference £916.50.
• Income tax and NI: tax = 20% × (gross − £12,570); employee NI = 8% × (gross − £12,570), using HMRC 2026/27 rates and thresholds for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We assume 2027/28 thresholds are unchanged (the income tax freeze runs to April 2031; the NI primary threshold is assumed to stay aligned). At £13.18: tax £2,626.20, NI £1,050.48, take-home £22,024.32. Share of raise kept = 659.88 ÷ 916.50 = 72%.
• Pension: qualifying earnings = gross − £6,240 (capped at £50,270), if gross is over the £10,000 trigger. Employee take-home cost = 4% of qualifying earnings (5% contribution less 1% basic-rate relief at source, per GOV.UK’s example); employer = 3%.
• Employer cost: employer NI = 15% × (gross − £5,000). At £13.18: £3,105.15; at £12.71: £2,967.68. Extra employer cost = (£25,701.00 + £3,105.15) − (£24,784.50 + £2,967.68) = £1,053.97.
• Implied median: 13.18 × 1.5 = £19.77 an hour, assuming the central estimate equals exactly two-thirds of projected median hourly earnings for those aged 21+. This is a KalQLater inference.

Limitations

The April 2027 rates are not confirmed as of 23 October 2026; every 2027 figure here uses the LPC’s April 2026 projection and could change when the government announces the rates. We could not find a published year-by-year series for the National Living Wage as a share of median earnings, so we report only the milestones stated by official sources. Take-home figures use annual calculations and a standard 1257L tax code; payroll works per pay period, Scotland has different income tax bands, and student loans, overtime, benefits such as Universal Credit, and salary sacrifice are not modelled. Pension figures assume a relief-at-source scheme at the legal minimum. This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.

Spotted an error? See our corrections policy. Read how we work in our methodology and editorial standards.

Sources

1. GOV.UK
   National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage ratesApril 2019 to April 2026 rates by age; apprentice rules
2. Low Pay Commission
   2026 LPC consultation letter (1 April 2026)April 2027 central estimate £13.18, range £13.02–£13.34
3. Low Pay Commission
   The National Minimum Wage in 2026 (uprating report)2027 projection, coverage by age band, 18–20 rate at 85% of NLW, age-20 option
4. Department for Business and Trade
   Low Pay Commission remit 2026Two-thirds benchmark; youth rate alignment; report due end of October 2026
5. Low Pay Commission
   LPC recommendations take the National Living Wage to £12.71April 2026 increases and August 2025 projection
6. HM Treasury
   Chancellor announces increase to the National Living Wage and National Minimum WageAnnouncement timing (25 November 2025)
7. Low Pay Commission
   2025 consultation letterApril 2026 early estimate £12.65
8. Low Pay Commission
   The National Minimum Wage in 20232024 two-thirds target estimate £11.16
9. Low Pay Commission blog
   What will the minimum wage be next year? (April 2024)April 2025 early estimate £11.89
10. HMRC
    Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027Personal allowance, NI rates and thresholds, employer NI 15%, £5,000 secondary threshold, Employment Allowance
11. GOV.UK
    Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay5%/3% minimums, £6,240–£50,270 band, tax relief example
12. Office for National Statistics
    Average weekly earnings in Great Britain: October 2026Regular pay growth 3.7%, June to August 2026
13. Living Wage Foundation
    What is the real Living Wage?2026/27 rates £14.10 and £15.45; accredited employers
14. House of Commons Library
    National Minimum Wage statistics (CBP-7735)NLW rates 2016–2018 and target milestones
15. Resolution Foundation
    Minimum wage, maximum pressure?Employer NI impact, bite path, real-terms growth