£975 boost for millions of UK workers from next week
Millions of workers across the UK could see up to £975 more in their bank accounts
From next week, millions of workers throughout the UK could receive up to an extra £975 in their bank accounts.
This is because the minimum wage - the lowest hourly rate that employers are legally required to pay their staff - is rising again from April 1.
How much an individual receives is determined by their age, with the minimum wage applying to both full and part-time employees. To qualify for the National Minimum Wage, you must have reached school leaving age, while the National Living Wage applies to those aged 21 and above.
The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over will rise from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour.
Furthermore, the minimum wages for those aged between 18 to 20, and under 18, will increase from £10 to £10.50 and from £7.55 to £8, respectively.
Read more: The 6 household bills to rise in April - from council tax to TV licences
Read more: Major UK HMRC tax changes from April 2026 as allowance scrapped
The apprentice rate will also rise from £7.55 to £8 per hour.
Apprentices who are either under 19, or aged 19 and over and in their first year of their apprenticeship, are entitled to the apprentice rate, while those over 19 who have finished their first year are entitled to the appropriate minimum wage for their age bracket.
For a full-time employee aged over 21, this increase amounts to approximately an additional £975 per year. However, the following categories of workers are not entitled to the minimum wage:
- self-employed people running their own businesses.
- members of the armed forces
- employees participating in a government employment scheme, such as the Work Programme
- people on government pre-apprenticeship programmes
- people undertaking work shadowing
- employees below school leaving age (typically 16)
- family members of the employer living in the employer's household
- participants in the following European Union (EU) initiatives: Leonardo da Vinci, Erasmus+, Comenius
- individuals living and working within a religious community
- company directors
- prisoners
- individuals undertaking a Jobcentre Plus Work trial for up to 6 weeks
- higher and further education students on work experience or a work placement up to one year
- share fishermen
- individuals who are volunteers or voluntary workers
