Written and reviewed by James Whitfield · Updated for 2026/27 · Editorial standards · Methodology
The National Living Wage from April 2026 is £12.71 an hour (21+), £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices. At 37.5 hours a week that is £476.63 a week, £2,065.38 a month and £24,784.50 a year, about £1,780 a month after tax and NI.
The National Living Wage from April 2026 is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over; the National Minimum Wage is £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices1. At 37.5 hours a week £12.71 is £476.63 a week, £2,065.38 a month and £24,784.50 a year; at 40 hours it is £26,436.80. After 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance, a 37.5-hour NLW worker in England takes home about £1,780 a month (£21,364 a year).
Typical default outputs for quick context.
The National Living Wage (NLW) is the statutory minimum hourly rate for workers aged 21 and over. From 1 April 2026 it is £12.71 an hour, up from £12.21. Younger workers and apprentices are covered by the National Minimum Wage (NMW): £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8.00 for 16 and 17 year olds and apprentices1. The apprentice rate applies to apprentices under 19, or 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship; after that they get the rate for their age.
| Age group | From April 2026 | April 2025 to March 2026 | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 and over (National Living Wage) | £12.71 | £12.21 | £0.50 (4.1%) |
| 18 to 20 | £10.85 | £10.00 | £0.85 (8.5%) |
| Under 18 | £8.00 | £7.55 | £0.45 (6.0%) |
| Apprentice | £8.00 | £7.55 | £0.45 (6.0%) |
The annual equivalent depends on contracted hours. The figures below use 52 paid weeks (holiday is paid at the same rate), so 37.5 hours a week gives £12.71 x 37.5 x 52 = £24,784.50 a year and 40 hours gives £26,436.80. Monthly figures are the annual amount divided by 12, which is how a salaried employee would see it; hourly-paid workers see slightly different amounts each month depending on how many shifts fall in it.
| Hours per week | Weekly | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 hours | £444.85 | £1,927.68 | £23,132.20 |
| 37.5 hours | £476.63 | £2,065.38 | £24,784.50 |
| 40 hours | £508.40 | £2,203.07 | £26,436.80 |
On £24,784.50 a year the first £12,570 is tax-free and the remaining £12,214.50 is taxed at 20%, giving £2,442.90 of income tax3. Employee National Insurance is 8% on the same £12,214.50 above the £12,570 primary threshold: £977.164. Take-home is therefore £21,364.44 a year, £1,780.37 a month or £410.85 a week, which works out at £10.96 an hour after deductions.
| Line | Weekly | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | £476.63 | £2,065.38 | £24,784.50 |
| Income tax (20% above £12,570) | £46.98 | £203.58 | £2,442.90 |
| National Insurance (8% above £12,570) | £18.79 | £81.43 | £977.16 |
| Take-home pay | £410.85 | £1,780.37 | £21,364.44 |
Scotland: the 19% starter rate on the first £3,967 of taxable income means income tax is £39.67 lower a year at this salary, so take-home is about £1,783.68 a month.
The same method applies at every rate and hours pattern. Under-18s do not pay National Insurance until they turn 16, and anyone earning under £12,570 pays no income tax at all, so on £8.00 an hour a 16 or 17 year old working full time keeps most of their pay.
| Rate and hours | Annual gross | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home (annual) | Take-home (monthly) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £12.71, 40 hours | £26,436.80 | £2,773.36 | £1,109.34 | £22,554.10 | £1,879.51 |
| £12.71, 37.5 hours | £24,784.50 | £2,442.90 | £977.16 | £21,364.44 | £1,780.37 |
| £12.71, 35 hours | £23,132.20 | £2,112.44 | £844.98 | £20,174.78 | £1,681.23 |
| £10.85, 37.5 hours (18 to 20) | £21,157.50 | £1,717.50 | £687.00 | £18,753.00 | £1,562.75 |
| £8.00, 37.5 hours (under 18 / apprentice) | £15,600.00 | £606.00 | £242.40 | £14,751.60 | £1,229.30 |
Most student loan plans do not bite at NLW earnings. The Plan 2 threshold is £29,385, Plan 1 is £26,900 and Plan 4 is £33,795, all above £26,436.805. Plan 5 (£25,000) is the exception: at 40 hours a week you repay 9% of the £1,436.80 above the threshold, £129.31 a year or about £10.78 a month, and nothing at 37.5 hours. Postgraduate Loan repayments start at £21,000, so 6% applies above that.
Auto-enrolment applies from age 22 to anyone earning over £10,000 a year, so most full-time NLW workers are enrolled. A 5% employee contribution is at most £103 a month on 37.5 hours (5% of full gross); schemes that use qualifying earnings deduct less, and a salary-sacrifice scheme cannot be used if it would take hourly pay below £12.71.
The 50p rise from £12.21 to £12.71 is worth £18.75 a week gross at 37.5 hours, or £975 a year. Because the personal allowance and NI threshold are both frozen at £12,570, the whole increase is taxable: 20% income tax and 8% National Insurance take 28p of every extra pound, so the net gain is about £702 a year, roughly £58.50 a month. The previous year's £12.21 rate gave £23,809.50 a year at 37.5 hours, so gross pay rises by 4.1% while take-home rises by about 3.4%.
For 18 to 20 year olds the jump is larger in percentage terms: from £10.00 to £10.85 an hour, an 8.5% rise worth £1,657.50 a year gross at 37.5 hours. The gap between the 18 to 20 rate and the full National Living Wage has narrowed from £2.21 to £1.86 an hour, continuing the policy of eventually aligning the two.
Below about 19 hours a week the National Living Wage keeps you under the £12,570 personal allowance and the NI primary threshold, so there is no income tax or National Insurance at all: 18 hours a week at £12.71 is £11,896.56 a year, entirely tax-free. Between roughly 19 and 20 hours a week you begin paying 20% and 8% on the slice above £12,570 only, so the effective deduction rate on total pay stays very low.
Hourly-paid workers should also be aware that PAYE assesses National Insurance per pay period rather than annually. A month with a lot of overtime can produce an NI deduction even if your annual earnings would be below the threshold, and unlike income tax there is no automatic cumulative refund. Income tax, by contrast, does even itself out across the year.
| Hours per week | Annual gross | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home (monthly) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 hours | £10,574.72 | £0 | £0 | £881.23 |
| 20 hours | £13,218.40 | £129.68 | £51.87 | £1,086.40 |
| 25 hours | £16,523.00 | £790.60 | £316.24 | £1,284.68 |
| 30 hours | £19,827.60 | £1,451.52 | £580.61 | £1,482.96 |
The NLW applies to employees, agency workers, casual workers and most apprentices over 19 in their second year; it does not apply to the genuinely self-employed, company directors without a contract of employment, or volunteers2. Pay for minimum-wage purposes is calculated over a pay reference period and excludes tips, most premium rates and expenses. Time spent travelling between assignments, mandatory training and being required to be on the premises all count as working time, which is where many underpayments arise.
Workers move onto the higher rate from the first pay reference period after their birthday, not the following April. Employers who underpay owe arrears and face penalties from HMRC, and workers can check and claim through the Acas helpline or HMRC directly.
The National Living Wage is the legal minimum set by the government on the Low Pay Commission's advice. The Real Living Wage is a separate, voluntary rate published each autumn by the Living Wage Foundation, calculated from living costs, with a higher London rate; employers who pay it can accredit with the Foundation. It is higher than the statutory rate but has no legal force, so a job advert quoting the living wage may mean either. The statutory rate is the one that appears in NLW and minimum-wage law.
Current tax-year thresholds used across this guide and calculator.
£12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over, up from £12.21. The National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20 year olds is £10.85 and the rate for under-18s and apprentices is £8.00.
£24,784.50 a year at 37.5 hours a week (£12.71 x 37.5 x 52), £26,436.80 at 40 hours and £23,132.20 at 35 hours. These assume 52 paid weeks, which is correct because statutory holiday is paid.
£2,065.38 gross a month at 37.5 hours a week, or £2,203.07 at 40 hours. After income tax and National Insurance in England that is about £1,780 and £1,880 a month respectively.
At 37.5 hours a week (£24,784.50 a year) income tax is £2,442.90 and National Insurance is £977.16, leaving £21,364.44 a year, £1,780.37 a month or £410.85 a week. No student loan is deducted on Plan 1, 2 or 4 at this level; a 5% pension would take up to £103 a month more.
£10.85 an hour from April 2026. At 37.5 hours a week that is £21,157.50 a year, or about £1,562.75 a month after tax and NI in England.
Apprentices under 19, or aged 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship, get the apprentice rate of £8.00. After the first year, apprentices aged 19 and over are entitled to the minimum wage for their age, including the £12.71 National Living Wage from 21.
The rates, thresholds and rules on this page are drawn from the official UK government sources below, using the confirmed 2026/27 figures. Each link opens the relevant HMRC or GOV.UK page in a new tab.
Verified against published UK government guidance for 2026/27.