Answers · UK 2025/26

What is the annual salary on the National Living Wage working full-time in 2026/27?

On the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21+, a full-time 37.5-hour week gives £476.63 a week, or £24,784.50 a year, for 2026/27, before tax and National Insurance.

Last updated: 3 July 2026Last reviewed: 3 July 2026How we verify

Full answer

The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour from April 2026, a 4.1% increase on the previous rate. For someone working a standard full-time week of 37.5 hours, weekly pay comes to £12.71 multiplied by 37.5, which is £476.63, and over a 52-week year this comes to £24,784.50 before any deductions. Working a 40-hour week instead, common in some sectors, gives £508.40 a week and £26,436.80 a year. From this gross figure, standard Income Tax and National Insurance apply in the usual way: on £24,784.50, the tax-free Personal Allowance of £12,570 covers just over half, leaving £12,214.50 taxed at 20% (£2,442.90 Income Tax), and National Insurance of 8% on the same amount (£977.16), leaving take-home pay of roughly £21,364.44 a year, or about £1,780.37 a month. Younger workers receive lower minimum rates: £10.85 an hour for ages 18 to 20, and £8.00 an hour for under-18s and apprentices in their first year, meaning a full-time 18-to-20-year-old on the minimum rate earns considerably less annually than someone on the full National Living Wage, even working identical hours. Employers who fail to pay at least the correct minimum wage rate for an employee's age face investigation and penalties from HMRC, including being publicly named for serious breaches.