Glossary · UK
What is National Minimum Wage (NMW)?
The minimum hourly rate employers must pay workers under 21. In 2026/27: £10.00 for ages 18-20, £7.55 for under-18s and apprentices. Workers aged 21 and over are covered by the National Living Wage (£12.21).
Full Definition
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) sets the lowest hourly rate that most UK workers are legally entitled to receive. Workers aged 21 and over are covered instead by the National Living Wage (NLW), which is £12.21 per hour in 2026/27. The NMW rates for 2026/27 are: £10.00 per hour for workers aged 18 to 20; £7.55 per hour for workers aged under 18 (who are no longer of compulsory school age) and for apprentices. The apprentice rate applies to apprentices aged under 19, or to apprentices of any age who are in the first year of their apprenticeship. Both NMW and NLW are enforced by HMRC's National Minimum Wage enforcement team. Employers who pay below the correct rate can face a civil penalty of up to 200% of the total underpayment, as well as being required to pay back all arrears to affected workers. HMRC publishes a list of employers who have been found to underpay. Certain groups are exempt from NMW/NLW: genuinely self-employed people (since they set their own rates), volunteers who receive only reasonable expenses, and company directors who have no contract of employment. Unpaid internships are only lawful where the intern is doing genuine voluntary work, is a student on a placement of up to one year, or is shadowing without doing productive work. Workers who believe they are being underpaid can report this to the Acas helpline or directly to HMRC.