The headline rates
From 1 April 2027, the minimum rates are:
| Age or status | Now (April 2026) | From April 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| 21 and over (National Living Wage) | £12.71 | £13.21 |
| 18 to 20 | £10.85 | £11.27 |
| Under 18 | £8.00 | £8.31 |
| Apprentice | £8.00 | £8.31 |
Each is a 3.9% increase, as recommended by the Low Pay Commission. The accommodation offset rises to £11.53 a day.
What sits on top
Employer National Insurance. Employers pay 15% on earnings above £96 a week, and the Budget leaves that unchanged for 2027/28. For employees under 21, and apprentices under 25, employer NI is 0% up to £967 a week. The Employment Allowance stays at £10,500 a year for eligible employers.
Pension auto-enrolment. Staff aged at least 22 and under State Pension age who earn over £10,000 a year must be auto-enrolled. The legal minimum is 8% of qualifying earnings, of which the employer pays at least 3%. For 2026/27, qualifying earnings run from £6,240 to £50,270 a year, or £120 to £967 a week.
Holiday. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, capped at 28 days. For irregular-hours and part-year workers, leave builds up based on hours worked, for leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024. In a pub, holiday usually means paying someone else to cover the shift as well.
Sick pay. Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is payable from the first full day off sick, and the lower earnings limit has gone. It’s paid at the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings.
One 30-hour job, worked through
These are our own sums for an adult on the minimum rate, working 30 hours every week and paid for 52 weeks including holiday. They’re illustrative only and before any Employment Allowance.
| At £12.71 (now) | At £13.21 (April 2027) | |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly pay | £381.30 | £396.30 |
| Employer NI (15% above £96) | £42.80 | £45.05 |
| Employer pension (3% above £120) | £7.84 | £8.29 |
| Annual total | about £22,460 | about £23,380 |
That’s around £920 a year more for one 30-hour role, before you’ve paid for holiday cover, sickness cover, training time or uniforms. It’s close to the BII’s estimate that the April rise costs pubs about £1,000 more for every full-time member of staff.
Holiday cover is worth a separate thought. If every hour has to be staffed, 5.6 weeks off means buying in about 11% more hours across the year.
The knock-on effect on pay differentials
The rise in the floor doesn’t stop at the floor. If your supervisor was on 75p over the minimum and the minimum rises by 50p, you either restore the gap or accept that the extra responsibility is worth less than it was. There’s no legal requirement to keep differentials. But the people most likely to notice when they shrink are often the ones you can least afford to lose.
Are pubs cutting staff, hours or putting prices up?
The surveys say all three. In the trade bodies’ survey published as April’s cost rises came in, 64% of businesses said they would cut jobs, 42% would reduce trading hours and 51% would cancel investment plans. CGA by NIQ carried it out in February 2026, covering operators of more than 20,000 sites. In October’s survey, 57% said a lower rate of employer NI would help protect against further job losses, and 48% said they’d employ more young people if the tax burden came down.
Official figures show hiring cooling. ONS data reported by RSM UK show accommodation and food service vacancies fell 7% to 70,000 in the three months to September 2026. Average weekly earnings in the sector fell 1.4% year on year in August, the first annual fall in more than 30 months. On prices, the Morning Advertiser’s survey shows the average pint up 3.3% in a year.
And the people running the pubs are absorbing a lot of it themselves. The BII says many of its members are “understaffed, covering jobs themselves and working upwards of 80 hours a week”.
What you can do
- Cost every role properly. Use the full figure, not the hourly rate, when you set prices and staffing levels.
- Check your NI reliefs. Make sure under-21s and apprentices under 25 are coded correctly, and that you’re claiming the Employment Allowance if you’re eligible.
- Plan the April pay review now. Decide on differentials before the new minimum forces the decision for you.
- Staff to the trade. Match hours to the busy sessions, using your own till data.
The bottom line
Rising employment costs are already showing up as fewer vacancies, shorter hours and higher prices, and in licensees doing more shifts themselves. The answer isn’t to stop employing people. It’s to know exactly what each hour costs, and make every one count.
Sources (12)
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK
- LPC recommendations take the National Living Wage to £13.21, GOV.UK, 28 Oct 2026
- Budget 2026, Annex A: rates and allowances, GOV.UK, 28 Oct 2026
- Workplace pensions: joining a workplace pension, GOV.UK
- Making contributions to your pension scheme, The Pensions Regulator
- Earnings thresholds, The Pensions Regulator
- Holiday entitlement, GOV.UK
- Sickness absences that start before and end on or after 6 April 2026, GOV.UK
- BII members disappointed as budget fails to deliver, BII, 28 Oct 2026
- April cost increases will force two-thirds of hospitality to cut more jobs, UKHospitality, 2026
- Soaring costs holding back investment, new member survey reveals, UKHospitality, Oct 2026
- Hospitality wages fall for first time in nearly three years, offering operators some respite, RSM UK, 2026