What is the National Living Wage?

The National Living Wage is the legal minimum hourly pay for workers aged 21 and over. From 1 April 2026 it is £12.71 an hour, according to GOV.UK. The National Minimum Wage rates for younger workers are £10.85 for ages 18 to 20, and £8 for under-18s and apprentices.

Rates change each April. The government sets them after advice from the Low Pay Commission, an independent body that publishes its recommendations and research. The age threshold for the National Living Wage fell from 25 to 23 in 2021 and to 21 in 2024, which matters when comparing years.

The National Living Wage is different from the voluntary "Real Living Wage" set by a charity, which is not a legal requirement. Annual pay figures depend on the hours assumed, so check the hours used in any yearly figure.

Official sources: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates · Low Pay Commission

When is the next figure out?

DWP statistics are pre-announced on the GOV.UK research and statistics calendar and published at 9:30am. Universal Credit statistics moved from monthly to quarterly releases in February, May, August and November after a 2026 consultation, with the final monthly release on 14 April 2026; provisional estimates were dropped and each quarterly release adds three months of finalised data. The benefits compendium, Benefit Combinations and National Insurance number allocations are now released together once a year. Fraud and error estimates appear each spring, and expenditure tables follow the Budget and spring forecast.

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Where the figures come from

• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics and Stat-Xplore
  Where to find DWP figures on Universal Credit, PIP, State Pension and Pension Credit, how to build a Stat-Xplore table and use the free Open Data API.
• UK poverty and household income statistics (DWP, ONS, DESNZ, Low Pay Commission and devolved governments)
  Where to find official UK poverty, household income, inequality, minimum wage and fuel poverty figures, and how to check claims about them.

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This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about poverty, incomes and cost of living: all Poverty, incomes and cost of living questions.