The UK national living wage will increase to £13.21 an hour from 1 April 2027, a 3.9% rise affecting about 2.3 million people, Personnel Today reported.
The minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20 will also rise by 3.9%, reaching £11.27 an hour. The matching percentage increases mark a pause in the faster rises for the younger age group seen since 2023.
Background and context
The government has pledged to bring adult minimum wage rates together, ending what it calls discriminatory age bands by the end of the current Parliament. Personnel Today reported that the pace of increases for 18- to 20-year-olds is now being slowed, though it remains unclear whether the broader commitment to equalise the rates has changed.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the commitment still stands, but that equalisation could happen over time, taking labour-market pressures into account. The Treasury said it had accepted the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations in full; those recommendations had not yet been published.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the change, saying the government had broken its manifesto pledge on young people’s minimum wage and arguing that the pledge was wrong for helping young people find jobs.
Employers weigh wage costs
Alan Lewis, a partner at Constantine Law, described the wage rise as part of a balance between improving workers’ incomes and giving businesses confidence to recruit and invest. He said labour-intensive sectors, including retail, hospitality and social care, would need to consider payroll costs and pay differences between minimum-wage roles and more senior positions.
Martin Jones, who leads the hospitality and leisure team at UHY Hacker Young, said employers in the sector were already dealing with the effects of recent increases in employer National Insurance contributions and the previous minimum-wage rise. He said the national living wage would have climbed 61% from £8.21 in 2020 to £13.21 in April 2027, and argued that rising wage costs were putting pressure on some businesses.
Jones also said statutory wage increases can push up pay for more experienced staff, as they expect to remain above entry-level rates.
The 2027 increase sets the next scheduled rates for both age groups, while the government’s longer-term plan to bring them into line remains in place, according to Reynolds.
Original Source: https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/national-living-wage-2027-2028-increase-national-minimmum-wage-nmw-nlw/
