The NLW currently applies to workers aged 23 and above and stands at £10.42 per hour. Workers under the age of 23 and apprentices are entitled to the national minimum wage (NMW) instead.

The age above which workers qualify to receive the NLW will be lowered as planned from 23 to 21 from 1 April 2024. It was previously lowered from 25 in April 2021.

The NLW will be increased by £1.02 to £11.44 per hour from 1 April 2024, an increase of 9.8%. The NMW is also set to increase by more than £1 per hour.

The NLW and NMW rates effective from 1 April 2024 are shown below:

Age Rate per hour Increase (£) Increase (%)

21+ (NLW) £11.44 £1.02 9.8%

18-20 (NMW) £8.60 £1.11 14.8%

16-17 (NMW) £6.40 £1.12 21.2%

Apprentice £6.40 £1.12 21.2%

This is the largest ever increase to the statutory hourly minimum and is forecast to result in a boost to annual earnings worth over £1,000 for those working under full-time contracts. Since its introduction in April 2015, successive increases to the legal minimum hourly rate mean that a full-time worker on the NMW in 2024 will be over £9,000 better off than they would have been in 2010.

The Government has estimated that there are over 2 million taxpayers currently eligible for the NLW who will benefit from this increase.