The voluntarily paid living wage in the United Kingdom for 2025/26 will be 13.45 pounds per hour in 2025/26, with this rising to 14.8 pounds per hour for workers in London. From April 1, 2026, the legal minimum wage for those over the age of 21 will be 12.21 pounds per hour.

From April 2026 onwards, the UK's main national minimum wage category, the national living wage, will rise to ***** pounds per hour, up from ***** pounds per hour in the previous financial year. This amount will apply to workers aged 21 and over, compared with 2022 and 2023 when it was only for workers aged 23 and over, and for those aged 25 and over between 2016 and 2021. The main minimum wage from 2010 to 2015 was the 21+ rate, and 22+ rate between 1999 and 2009. Evolution of the minimum wage Since its introduction in 1999, the minimum wage has had various rate categories, usually based on age. For the first five years, there were two categories, one for workers 18 to 21, and another for workers aged 22 and over. In 2004, a minimum wage for under 18s was introduced, and between 2010 and 2015 there were three rates based on age, and one for apprenticeships. Another age based-rate was added in 2016, but from 2024 onwards, the model will revert to four rate categories overall. In addition to the legal minimum wage, there is also a voluntary real living wage, which for 2024/25 is **** pounds per hour, rising to ***** pounds per hour for workers in London. Wages continue to outpace inflation in 2024 Since July 2023, wages have grown faster than inflation in the UK with December 2024 seeing regular weekly earnings grow by *** percent, compared with the CPI inflation rate of *** percent that month. For almost two years between November 2021 and June 2023, wage growth struggled to keep up with inflation, with the biggest gap occurring in October 2022 when inflation peaked at **** percent. The fall in real earnings in one of the most important factors in the UK's ongoing cost of living crisis. At the height of the crisis, around ** percent of UK households were reporting a monthly increase in their cost of living, with this falling to ** percent by March 2024.

In April 2026, the UK minimum wage for adults over the age of 21 will be 12.71 pounds per hour. For the 2026/27 financial year, there are four minimum wage categories, three of which are based on age and one for apprentice workers. Apprentices, and workers under the age of 18 will have a minimum wage of eight pounds an hour, increasing to 10.85 pounds for those aged 18 to 20. When the minimum wage was first introduced in 1999, there were just two age categories; 18 to 21, and 22 and over. This increased to three categories in 2004, four in 2010, and five between 2016 and 2023, before being reduced down to four in the most recent year. The living wage The living wage is an alternative minimum wage amount that employers in the UK can voluntarily pay their employees. It is calculated independently of the legal minimum wage and results in a higher value figure. In 2023/24, for example, the living wage was twelve pounds an hour for the UK as a whole and 13.15 for workers in London, where the cost of living is typically higher. This living wage is different from what the UK government has named the national living wage, which was 10.42 in the same financial year. Between 2011/12 and 2023/24, the living wage has increased by 4.80 pounds, while the London living wage has grown by 4.85 pounds. Wage growth cancelled-out by high inflation 2021-2023 For a long period between the middle of 2021 and late 2023, average wage growth in the UK was unable to keep up with record inflation levels, resulting in the biggest fall in disposable income since 1956. Although the UK government attempted to mitigate the impact of falling living standards through a series of cost of living payments, the situation has still been very difficult for households. After peaking at 11.1 percent in October 2022, the UK's inflation rate remained in double figures until March 2023, and did not fall to the preferred rate of two percent until May 2024. As of November 2024, regular weekly pay in the UK was growing by 5.6 percent in nominal terms, and 2.5 percent when adjusted for inflation.

Number of UK jobs paid below minimum wage by sex, age, occupation and industry, and region. Annual estimates, 1998 to 2025. Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

Estimates of the number and proportion of UK employee jobs with hourly pay below the living wage, by region, work geography, local authority and parliamentary constituency, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

2014 data produced by the ONS

Minimum Wages in the United Kingdom increased to 12.21 GBP/Hour in 2025 from 11.44 GBP/Hour in 2024. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Minimum Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Number and percentage of jobs paid below the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) living wage in London (using London living wage) and for the UK excluding London (using UK LWF living wage). With breakdowns for working pattern, for 2009 to 2018.

Since September 2015 Leicester City Council is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) as a Living Wage Employer. We pay the LWF Living Wage to directly employed staff, including agency staff with placements greater than 8 weeks. We have also made a commitment to adopt the Living Wage in our supply chain, and as part of this we will publish a list of contracts, including suppliers' names, in which a LW condition has been included.

For workers under the age of **, the national minimum wage in the United Kingdom will be ******British pounds per hour as from April 2026. This is an increase of **** pounds when compared with 2024 when the minimum wage for this age group was **** pounds. This particular minimum wage category was ***** pounds when it was first introduced in 2004, five years after the launch of the minimum age for workers aged 19 or over. Minimum wage rates history In 1999, when the UK minimum wage was first introduced, there were two different wage rates; one for those aged 18 to 21, and another for those aged 22 or over. These two rates were joined by an under ** rate in 2004, and then in 2010 the minimum wage was reorganized to include a rate for apprentice workers, while the top rate was increased to include workers aged 21. As of 2025, after several further waves of reorganization, there are **** different wage categories. For workers aged 21 and over, the minimum hourly wage is ***** pounds, falling to *** pounds for ** to 20-year-olds, and 7.55 pounds for under 18s and apprentices. Wages continue growing in 2025 As of January 2025, weekly wages were growing by approximately *** percent, the twentieth-consecutive month of wage growth following a long period of wages falling. High inflation throughout 2022 and 2023, meant that prices were rising faster than pay for a long twenty-month period between ************* and *********. With inflation down, and wages still growing, there are hopeful signs the UK might be over the worst of the Cost of Living Crisis, ongoing since late 2021. As of **********, however, almost ** percent of UK households were still reporting an increase in their living costs, relative to the previous month.

Percentage of respondents in work earning less than the London Living Wage (LLW) taken from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earning (ASHE). Data is provided by whether the employee is male or female and works full-time or part-time. Data is also provided by borough. Also includes employees earning below the UK Living Wage by region outside London. The minimum wage levels in each year are stated in the table. This dataset is one of the Greater London Authority's measures of Economic Fairness. Click here to find out more.

This report looks at the government’s evidence and analysis on the enforcement of National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. This evidence helps monitor, evaluate and review minimum wage compliance and enforcement. It also has our response to the 2020 Low Pay Commission recommendations. This evidence covers: estimated non-compliance with the minimum wage routes to HMRC enforcement enforcement operations enforcement statistics

The Apprenticeship Pay Survey, 2016 was carried out by IFF Research on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and involved 9,422 telephone interviews with apprentices in Great Britain. Apprenticeships are a structured programme of training, consisting of paid employment and learning, which give people the opportunity to work for an employer, learn on the job, build up knowledge and skills, and gain recognised qualifications within a specific occupation or trade. Apprenticeships are administered by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) in England, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) in Scotland and the Welsh Government (WG) in Wales.

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers in the UK are entitled to by law. As well as separate minimum rates for those aged under 18, 18-20 and 21 or over, there is a distinct National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices aged 16 to 18 and those aged 19 or over who are in their first year of the Apprenticeship (all other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum Wage for their age). From 1 April 2016, the government introduced a new mandatory National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 an hour - 50p higher than the adult NMW rate of £6.70 which applies to those aged 21 to 24. Apprentices aged 25 and above are entitled to the NLW if they are in the second or later year of their apprenticeship.

The main aim of this research was to provide an accurate, up-to-date picture of the pay of the apprentice population, both across Great Britain, and within England, Scotland and Wales, in order to assist with development and monitoring of Apprenticeship and National Minimum Wage policy. For example, evidence from the Apprenticeship Pay Survey contributes to the Low Pay Commission's recommendations to Government for the Apprenticeship minimum wage rate.

Further information is available from the GOV.UK Apprenticeship Pay Survey, 2016 webpage.

The Apprenticeship Pay Survey was also conducted in 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2014. Data for 2014 (see SN 7739) and 2016 are the only surveys currently available from the UK Data Service. This study (SN 8204) also includes a combined 2014 and 2016 data file.

Ipsos MORI was commissioned by the Resolution Foundation to survey employers on how they have responded to the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) in 2016. The survey of 500 businesses, carried out in the weeks running up to the referendum, is the first major survey of business responses to the NLW since the policy's introduction on 1 April 2016.

Five hundred telephone interviews with businesses were conducted in June 2016. Interviews were conducted with the main financial decision-maker in the organisation. Quotas were set to be representative of the UK business population (minimum turnover £50,000) by number of employees, turnover, region and sector. Data were weighted to be representative of the population.

Further information about the study may be found on the Ipsos MORI Employers' response to the introduction of the National Living Wage webpage and the Resolution Foundation Industrial strategies? Exploring responses to the National Living Wage in low-paying sectors webpage.

The median hourly earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was 19.74 British pounds in 2025, compared with 18.72 pounds in the previous year. At the start of this provided time period, in 1997, the average hourly wage in the UK was 7.92 pounds per hour, rising to more than ten pounds per hour by 2003, and above 15 pounds per hour by 2020. Minimum and living wage in the UK In the United Kingdom, employers are expected to pay their employees a minimum wage that is determined by how old they are. Under 18s for example, had a minimum wage of 5.28 British pounds in 2023, with the figure increasing to 7.49 pounds those aged 18 to 20, 10.18 for 21 to 22 year old's, and 10.42 for those aged 23 and over. There is also a voluntarily paid living Wage that employers can choose to pay their workers. For the 2023/24 financial year this was twelve pounds an hour, rising to 13.15 pounds an hour for workers based in London. Icelandic the highest earners in Europe Iceland had the highest average annual wage in the Europe in 2022 at around 79,500 U.S dollars. This was followed by Luxembourg at 78,300 dollars, Switzerland at 72,990 and Belgium at 64,850 dollars. The United Kingdom’s average annual wage amounted to around 53,985 U.S dollars in the same year. In this year, the country with the lowest annual salary in Europe was Greece, at 25,980 pounds per year.

Since 2006 the GLA Group has been implementing the London Living Wage (LLW).The Group continues to include the LLW as a requirement for contracts that are let or renewed.

We calculate the Living Wage by a combination of two approaches. The first, developed by the Family Budget Unit (FBU), estimates the costs of a ‘Low Cost but Acceptable’ (LCA) budget for a selection of households and calculates the wage required to meet these costs. This is termed the “Basic Living Costs” approach. The second – the “Income Distribution” approach – simply identifies the median income for London (appropriately weighted for 11 household types) and then takes 60 per cent of it.

The Mayor continues to lobby national Government to adopt the London Living Wage across Whitehall.

All annual living wage reports, titled 'A Fairer London', can be found on the GLA website.

United Kingdom National Minimum Wage: Hourly Rate: Age 25 & Over data was reported at 8.210 GBP in Mar 2020. This stayed constant from the previous number of 8.210 GBP for Dec 2019. United Kingdom National Minimum Wage: Hourly Rate: Age 25 & Over data is updated quarterly, averaging 7.665 GBP from Jun 2016 (Median) to Mar 2020, with 16 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.210 GBP in Mar 2020 and a record low of 7.200 GBP in Mar 2017. United Kingdom National Minimum Wage: Hourly Rate: Age 25 & Over data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Department for Work and Pensions. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.G047: National Minimum Wage: Hourly Rate.

Forecast: Wages and Salaries of Non Life Insurance in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Comprehensive salary data for over 200 roles across all major UK industries, including percentiles and regional variations. Updated for 2025/26 tax year.