National Minimum Wage Rates April 2026: UK Employer Guide to Payroll Changes

The National Minimum Wage rates April 2026 rules are already live, and for a lot of small employers the awkward part is not the headline increase. It is checking whether every rota, deduction, apprentice record, and salary sacrifice arrangement still works from 1 April 2026. A worker can look comfortably above the new rate on paper and still be underpaid once the calculation is done properly.

The pressure is highest in hospitality, retail, care, cleaning, salons, trades, and any business with younger staff, apprentices, shift patterns, or accommodation. One missed detail can create arrears, payroll corrections, and a conversation with HMRC that nobody was hoping to have in April.

Quick summary: from 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour. The 18 to 20 rate is £10.85, the 16 to 17 rate is £8.00, and the apprentice rate is £8.00. The accommodation offset is £11.10 per day. Employers should review pay rates, unpaid working time, deductions, and apprentice status now rather than waiting for the first payroll query.

If you want help checking your payroll setup against the new rates, we can support you through our Payroll Services, Bookkeeping Service, and contact page.

National Minimum Wage rates April 2026: the numbers employers need

Let us pin the rates down first. These are the statutory hourly rates that took effect on 1 April 2026.

Worker category	Rate from 1 April 2026
Age 21 and over, National Living Wage	£12.71
Age 18 to 20	£10.85
Age 16 to 17	£8.00
Apprentice	£8.00

The accommodation offset is:

Accommodation offset	Rate from 1 April 2026
Daily rate	£11.10
Weekly rate	£77.70

Official sources:

• National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
• Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
• National Minimum Wage accommodation rates

There is one date wrinkle worth keeping in mind. Minimum wage rates changed on 1 April 2026, while most PAYE and National Insurance thresholds changed on 6 April 2026. If you run weekly payroll, the timing can get a bit fiddly because the wage change and the tax-year change are not identical events.

Who must get the new rate

HMRC and GOV.UK use the term worker, not just employee. That catches people out. The rules can apply to part-time staff, casual workers, agency workers, homeworkers, apprentices, and some people paid by output rather than a neat hourly contract.

The broad rule is simple:

• workers must be at least school leaving age to get the National Minimum Wage
• workers must be 21 or over to get the National Living Wage
• apprentices only qualify for the apprentice rate if they are under 19, or 19 and over but still in the first year of their apprenticeship

That last point matters a lot. Plenty of payroll errors come from leaving someone on the apprentice rate too long.

If an apprentice is 19 or over and has completed the first year of their apprenticeship, they move onto the rate for their age group from the first day of the pay reference period that begins after that point. It is not enough to wait until the next convenient month or the next contract review.

Source:

• Eligibility for the minimum wage

Why April 2026 payroll reviews need more than a quick rate change

Some employers think this job is done once the hourly rate field is updated in payroll software. If only.

Minimum wage compliance is based on the pay reference period and the worker’s effective hourly pay for that period. So even if the contract rate looks fine, the real calculation can be pushed down by:

• deductions for uniforms or tools
• salary sacrifice arrangements
• unpaid working time
• training time not treated correctly
• transport charges paid to the employer
• accommodation charges above the offset rate

The issue is not usually deliberate underpayment. It is more often a business using a deduction or a practical working arrangement that made sense operationally but was never tested against minimum wage rules.

That is why April is a sensible month to do a line-by-line check rather than a broad assumption. We covered the wider payroll cost picture in our employer National Insurance changes guide for 2026/27. This post is narrower and more practical: how to avoid minimum wage underpayments once the new rates are live.

Worked example 1: a worker who looks compliant but is not

Assume you have a 22-year-old employee working 35 hours a week from 1 April 2026.

You set their hourly rate at £12.90.

At first glance:

• 35 hours x £12.90 = £451.50 gross weekly pay

That looks safely above the £12.71 National Living Wage.

Now add a deduction for a required uniform and shoes supplied by the employer:

• uniform deduction = £18.00

For minimum wage purposes, that deduction can reduce the pay used in the calculation.

Adjusted pay for minimum wage testing:

• £451.50 minus £18.00 = £433.50

Effective hourly rate:

• £433.50 divided by 35 = £12.39

So the worker is 32p per hour below the legal minimum, even though their contractual hourly rate is above it.

Weekly underpayment:

• 35 hours x £0.32 = £11.20

Over a 13-week quarter, that would be:

• £11.20 x 13 = £145.60

That is the sort of problem that turns a harmless-looking payroll setup into arrears.

Apprentice rate mistakes are still one of the easiest ways to slip up

The apprentice rate is often misunderstood because people mix up age and training year.

An apprentice can be paid the apprentice rate only if they are:

• under 19, or
• 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

After that, the worker must get the age-related minimum wage rate.

Here is the point that matters in practice. If you have a 20-year-old apprentice who has completed the first year, the correct rate from the relevant pay reference period is £10.85, not £8.00.

That gap is not small.

Worked example 2: apprentice underpayment after the first year

Assume Maya is 20 and works 37.5 hours a week. She completed the first year of her apprenticeship, but payroll still pays her the apprentice rate of £8.00 from April 2026.

What she should receive:

• 37.5 hours x £10.85 = £406.88 per week

What she actually receives:

• 37.5 hours x £8.00 = £300.00 per week

Weekly underpayment:

• £406.88 minus £300.00 = £106.88

If that runs for just 8 weeks before anyone spots it:

• £106.88 x 8 = £855.04

That is a real payroll correction, not a rounding issue.

If you employ apprentices, check:

• date apprenticeship started
• worker’s age
• whether the first apprenticeship year has ended
• whether payroll software updated the rate automatically or whether it still needs a manual change

If your payroll process is already busy with year-end tasks, it helps to keep this next to your PAYE year-end checklist for 2026.

Salary sacrifice, uniforms, and other deductions that cause trouble

Here is where the rules stop being intuitive.

For minimum wage purposes, some deductions and payments made by workers reduce pay. GOV.UK’s calculation manual gives common examples, including uniforms, transport linked to the job, training costs in some situations, and salary sacrifice arrangements.

Two points are worth spelling out.

Salary sacrifice

If a worker gives up part of their cash pay under a salary sacrifice arrangement, the sacrificed amount is generally not counted as pay for minimum wage purposes. So a pension arrangement that looks tidy from a tax angle can create a minimum wage issue if the post-sacrifice pay falls too low.

Employer-related costs

If you require workers to pay for something connected with the job, such as uniform items, tools, or certain deductions for employer-provided transport, the amount can reduce minimum wage pay even where the worker agreed to it in writing.

The agreement does not fix the problem. Minimum wage law still wins.

Source:

• Calculating the minimum wage
• Calculating the minimum wage index to the manual

Worked example 3: salary sacrifice pushing pay below the National Living Wage

Assume Tom is 24 and works 40 hours in a weekly pay reference period.

His hourly rate is set at £13.05 from April 2026.

Gross weekly pay before salary sacrifice:

• 40 x £13.05 = £522.00

Tom agrees to salary sacrifice £20.00 a week into pension.

Pay counted for minimum wage purposes becomes:

• £522.00 minus £20.00 = £502.00

Effective hourly rate:

• £502.00 divided by 40 = £12.55

That is 16p per hour below the £12.71 National Living Wage.

Weekly shortfall:

• 40 x £0.16 = £6.40

Over a full year of 52 weeks, that would be:

• £6.40 x 52 = £332.80

Again, nothing dramatic in one payslip. Enough to matter over time.

If you use salary sacrifice for pensions, cycle schemes, or other arrangements, it is worth testing every lower-paid role individually before leaving the structure in place.

Accommodation offset: useful, but easy to misread

Accommodation is one of the few benefits in kind that can affect minimum wage calculations. Most other benefits in kind do not count.

From 1 April 2026, the accommodation offset is £11.10 per day or £77.70 per week.

The broad logic works like this:

• if accommodation is free, the offset can be added when calculating minimum wage pay
• if the employer charges more than the offset rate, the excess can reduce pay for minimum wage purposes
• if the charge is at or below the offset rate, it does not reduce minimum wage pay

It crops up most often in hospitality, agriculture, and live-in arrangements.

Worked example 4: accommodation charge above the offset

Assume a 23-year-old worker does 30 hours a week at £12.71 an hour.

Gross weekly pay:

• 30 x £12.71 = £381.30

The employer charges £100 a week for accommodation.

Weekly accommodation offset allowed:

• £77.70

Excess over the offset:

• £100.00 minus £77.70 = £22.30

Amount reducing minimum wage pay:

• £22.30

Adjusted pay for minimum wage testing:

• £381.30 minus £22.30 = £359.00

Effective hourly rate:

• £359.00 divided by 30 = £11.97

That is 74p per hour below the legal minimum.

Plenty of businesses think they are paying the right hourly rate here and still miss the mark because the accommodation charge changes the calculation.

Source:

• Accommodation rates
• Effect of accommodation on the minimum wage

Common April 2026 mistakes we are seeing already

The same patterns come up each year when rates change.

Leaving rotas or shift assumptions untouched

If you costed labour at last year’s rate and then increased pay without checking margins, managers sometimes respond by trimming paid hours but not unpaid opening, closing, or handover time. That can create a minimum wage problem quickly.

Assuming tips solve the gap

Tips do not count towards minimum wage pay, even if they are processed through payroll.

Forgetting travel or training time

Whether time counts depends on the facts, and the rules are not always simple. If workers have required activities linked to the job, do not assume unpaid means non-working time.

Applying the wrong apprentice rate

That one is still near the top of the list. One missed anniversary date can create sizeable arrears.

Using one blanket salary sacrifice rule for all staff

What works for a manager on a higher hourly rate may not work for an entry-level worker near the legal minimum.

Charging for uniform or tools without testing the pay reference period

The deduction might look minor, but small deductions have a habit of breaking compliance for lower-paid roles.

A practical employer checklist for April and May 2026

If you want a workable process rather than a theory lesson, start here.

1. Confirm every current hourly rate against the correct age band from 1 April 2026.
2. Review apprentices separately. Check age and whether the first apprenticeship year has finished.
3. Test deductions for uniforms, tools, till shortages, transport, or other employer-related costs.
4. Review salary sacrifice arrangements for anyone close to the legal minimum.
5. Check accommodation charges against the £11.10 daily or £77.70 weekly offset.
6. Sense-check unpaid time such as handover, training, security checks, or opening and closing duties.
7. Update payroll software and contracts where needed.
8. Keep a short audit note showing what you checked and when.

That final point is worth doing. If you ever need to explain your process to HMRC, a short written record from April is much more convincing than trying to rebuild your logic months later.

Budgeting impact for a small employer

The headline rate increase is only one part of the financial effect. Employer National Insurance, pension costs, holiday pay, overtime assumptions, and wage compression between junior and senior staff can all move at the same time.

Take a simple example. If you have 6 workers, each doing 30 hours a week, and each had to move from £12.21 to £12.71 from April 2026, the direct wage increase is:

• increase per hour: £0.50
• weekly hours across workforce: 6 x 30 = 180 hours
• extra weekly wage cost: 180 x £0.50 = £90.00
• extra annual wage cost before on-costs: £90.00 x 52 = £4,680

That is before pension contributions, holiday pay effects, and employer NIC where applicable.

For some businesses, the right response is better scheduling. For others, it is tighter pricing or a review of where admin time is being absorbed. If your payroll and bookkeeping are drifting apart, the numbers get harder to trust. Our bookkeeping service can help tidy that side before you make pricing or staffing decisions on bad data.

When to get help

If your workforce includes apprentices, casual staff, deductions, live-in workers, or salary sacrifice, this is usually worth checking properly rather than guessing.

We would also recommend a closer review if:

• you have changed payroll software recently
• staff work variable hours and not all time is captured neatly
• uniforms or equipment are charged to workers
• your sector has high staff turnover
• you have had past payroll corrections or HMRC notices

Our guide is general information, not personal advice. Your own facts matter, especially where contracts, deductions, or working time are not straightforward.

If you want someone to review the numbers with you before the next payroll run, start with our Payroll Services, or get in touch here. A short compliance review in April is usually cheaper than sorting arrears later.

FAQ: National Minimum Wage rates April 2026

What are the National Minimum Wage rates from 1 April 2026?

From 1 April 2026, the rates are £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, £8.00 for ages 16 to 17, and £8.00 for apprentices who qualify for the apprentice rate.

Does every apprentice get the apprentice rate?

No. The apprentice rate applies only if the worker is under 19, or aged 19 or over and still in the first year of their apprenticeship. After that, the age-related rate normally applies.

Do tips count towards the minimum wage?

No. Tips, gratuities, and service charges do not count towards minimum wage pay, even if they go through payroll.

Can salary sacrifice reduce pay below the minimum wage?

Yes. Salary sacrifice can reduce the pay counted for minimum wage purposes, so lower-paid workers need to be checked carefully.

What is the accommodation offset from April 2026?

From 1 April 2026, the accommodation offset is £11.10 per day or £77.70 per week.

What should employers check first after the April 2026 rate change?

Check hourly rates, apprentice status, deductions, salary sacrifice arrangements, accommodation charges, and any unpaid working time that could affect the pay reference period calculation.

If you have not reviewed those points yet, do that before the next payroll closes. The fix is usually simple when caught early.