Real Living Wage 2026: How It Differs From the National Living Wage

The detail

These are two different things that are easily confused. The National Living Wage is a legal minimum set by the government on Low Pay Commission advice - employers must pay it. For 2026/27 it is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. The Real Living Wage is a voluntary rate set by the Living Wage Foundation and calculated on what people actually need to cover the cost of living - employers can choose to pay it but are not required to.

For 2025/26 the Living Wage Foundation set the Real Living Wage at £13.45 an hour across the UK and £14.80 an hour in London, where housing and transport costs are higher. Both are above the £12.71 statutory floor: the UK Real Living Wage is about 74p an hour more, and the London rate about £2.09 an hour more.

The rates were announced in October 2025, and accredited Living Wage employers have until 1 May 2026 to implement them. Over 15,000 UK employers are voluntarily accredited to pay the Real Living Wage. The Foundation recalculates the rates each autumn based on a basket of household costs, so they can rise faster than the statutory minimum in high-inflation years.

For a full-time worker on 37.5 hours a week, the difference is meaningful: the £12.71 National Living Wage annualises to roughly £24,800, the £13.45 Real Living Wage to roughly £26,200, and the £14.80 London rate to roughly £28,900 (illustrative, before tax). To see the take-home pay at any of these hourly rates, use our hourly-to-salary calculator.

Note the naming trap: the government deliberately branded its statutory minimum the "National Living Wage" in 2016, which is why it sounds like the Living Wage Foundation's figure. They are set by different bodies, calculated on different bases, and only the government one is legally enforceable.