Advanced options
What The Minimum Wage Calculator Works Out
- Hourly rate: the legal minimum for your age band from April 2026: GBP 12.71 for 21 and over (the National Living Wage), GBP 10.85 for 18 to 20, and GBP 8.00 for 16 to 17 year olds and apprentices under 19 or in their first year. Rates change every April and apply from the relevant birthday.
- From 1 April 2027 (Budget 2026): the Budget of 28 October 2026 accepted the Low Pay Commission's recommendations in full: GBP 13.21 for 21 and over (up 3.9%), GBP 11.27 for 18 to 20 and GBP 8.31 for 16 to 17 and apprentices. The 18 to 20 rate rises at the same pace as the adult rate for the first time since 2023, so the promised single adult rate has been pushed back. Pick "From 1 April 2027" in the advanced options to run every figure on the new rates.
- Pay rise in April 2027 (advanced): the difference between the current and new rate for your band, per week and per year: about GBP 975 a year for a full-time worker on the adult rate.
- Accommodation offset (advanced): the only benefit in kind that counts towards the minimum wage. Free accommodation adds GBP 11.53 a day (from April 2027; GBP 11.10 until then) to pay for minimum wage purposes; if the employer charges more than the offset, the excess is treated as a deduction from pay.
- Weekly minimum: the hourly rate multiplied by your hours. A 37.5-hour week at the adult rate is about GBP 477.
- Annual: the weekly figure over 52 weeks (or the weeks you set), about GBP 24,800 full time at the adult rate. It is a legal floor, not a norm.
- Your effective hourly rate (advanced): your weekly pay, less any uniform or tool deductions, spread over all the hours you actually work including unpaid ones. Opening up, closing down, travel between care visits, compulsory training and security checks all count as working time, and salaried staff can fall below the floor when unpaid overtime stretches their hours.
- Shortfall per week (advanced): how far the effective rate falls below the legal minimum, scaled up to a yearly figure. HMRC can order back pay for up to six years, fine employers up to double the arrears and name them publicly; complaints can be made anonymously via GOV.UK or Acas.
- Uniform or tool deductions (advanced): deductions or payments for items connected with the job reduce pay for minimum wage purposes, so a GBP 10 a week uniform charge can tip a minimum-wage worker into underpayment. Tips cannot count towards the minimum at all.
- Monthly minimum (advanced): the annual figure divided by 12, the number to check against a monthly payslip.
- Real Living Wage gap (advanced): the difference between the legal minimum and the voluntary Real Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation (GBP 14.10 outside London and GBP 15.45 in London, announced October 2026, editable as the new rate is announced each autumn), per week and per year.
- Who it covers: almost all workers including agency staff, casual workers and most zero-hours contracts; genuine self-employment is the main exception.
Source and further reading: GOV.UK: minimum wage rates.