National Minimum Wage Rates 2025 (UK)

The new rates will be:

• For those aged 21 & over – NLW rises to £12.21 per hour (an increase of 6.7%)
• For those aged 18-20 – the NMW will be £10 per hour (an increase of 16.3%)
• For workers under 18 and apprentices – £7.55 per hour (an increase of 18%).

The ‘accommodation offset’ (the maximum amount an employer who pays minimum wage and who provides live-in accommodation to staff is allowed to deduct from daily pay) will increase to £10.66 per day.

The accommodation offset applies only to accommodation. An offset is not allowed for the cost of utilities, council tax, uniforms, tools or anything else.

Statutory Sick Pay

From 6th April SSP will increase to £118.75 (6.7% on 2024 rates) and the government has announced its intentions to scrap the 3 ‘waiting days’ (employees currently don’t qualify for SSP for the first 3 days of illness in a qualifying period) and to apply SSP to all workers – it currently only applies to workers earning more than the National Insurance Lower earnings Limit of £125 per week (from April 2025).

The new SSP regs, once in place, will increase costs & administration for employers who utilise low hours workers, many of whom would currently not qualify for SSP.

Statutory Family Leave

Also from 6th April the various categories of statutory family related leave (maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption, family bereavement) will all increase to a maximum of £187.18 per week.

HR support for employers

Our payroll and HR support services include national minimum wage advice and guidance. All of our retained payroll and HR outsource packages contain support hours which can be used for audit purposes, or to help employers develop a salary and benefits strategy for their organisation. Current clients include charities, LLPs and not-for-profits as well as limited companies across sectors.