What are the changes? The following rates are effective from 1 April 2026: | Age | Hourly Rate | | National Living Wage (21 and over) | £12.71 | | 18 - 20 | £10.85 | | 16 - 17 | £8.00 | | Apprenticeship | £8.00 | The apprentice rate applies to people aged under 19, or people over 19 but in the first year of their apprenticeship. If the apprentice is older than 19, and has finished their first year of their apprenticeship, the minimum wage for their age group applies. For further information, go to GOV.UK.
Minimum wage check You can use the minimum wage check option to ensure you pay your employees the minimum wage, including apprentices.
New rates at year end To comply with HMRC rules, the effective date of new rates at year end depends on your processing date. Your software's Minimum Wage Check uses rates from the start of the tax period for each pay run. If your process date falls on any date from 1 to 4 April that are in tax week 52, the rates as of 28 March apply. If your processing date is on 5 April, which is in week 53, the new rates apply. For monthly payrolls, the new rates apply when you process tax month 1. If you'd like to start paying the new rates earlier, you can manually amend employees pay in Enter Payments. However, your software will only validate payments against the new rates based on the dates above.
When do employees' rates change following a birthday? Sometimes an employee has a birthday that moves them into a new NMW category. When this happens, their new rate applies in the next full tax period after their birthday. The date you pay employees decides the rate rather than the period you're paying them for if you pay in arrears. For example, you pay an employee monthly and they turn 21 years old on 23 August: - Pay tax month 5 (6 August - 5 September) at their prior rate for 18 - 20 years old
- Pay tax month 6 (6 September - 5 October) at their new rate for age 21 and over
For help with checking tax periods, visit our tax week and tax month calendar article.
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