Real Living Wage 2026-27: £14.10, or £15.45 in London

The real Living Wage is the rate that campaigners, not the government, say a full-time job should pay for a basic standard of living. On 15 October 2026 it rose to £14.10 an hour across the UK and £15.45 in London. The legal minimum for adults is still £12.71. That gap is worth more than £2,700 a year to a full-time worker outside London, and more than £5,300 in London. Whether you get the higher rate depends on who you work for.

What the real Living Wage is

The Living Wage Foundation, a charity, publishes the rate every October. The Resolution Foundation calculates it and the Living Wage Commission oversees it. The calculation starts from what members of the public say a household needs for a minimum acceptable standard of living, and is checked against the official poverty line. It is the only UK wage rate built from living costs.

The government’s “National Living Wage” borrowed the name in 2016, but it is a different thing. It is the legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over, set each April by ministers after advice from the Low Pay Commission. It is not calculated from what it costs to live, and it has no London weighting.

Who has to pay it, and by when

Nearly 17,000 employers are accredited Living Wage Employers, including about half of the FTSE 100. The Foundation says one in seven UK employees works for one. When they sign up, they promise to:

• pay the real Living Wage to all directly employed staff aged 18 and over;
• raise pay to each new rate within six months of the October announcement, so by 1 May 2027 for this year’s rates;
• extend it to regular third-party contracted staff, such as agency cleaners and security guards, who work at least 2 hours a week for 8 or more consecutive weeks. Where existing contracts stand in the way, employers may take up to three years from accreditation to bring contractors’ pay up.

Employers that are not accredited have promised nothing. Many say they pay “the living wage” when they mean the legal minimum. Ask which one they mean.

Check whether you should be getting it

1. Search the directory. The Living Wage Foundation lists every accredited Living Wage Employer. If you are an agency or contract worker, check the company whose site you work at as well as your agency.
2. Read your contract and pay policy. Look for words like “real Living Wage”, “London Living Wage” or “Living Wage Foundation rate”. A promise there may be part of your contract, whether or not the employer is accredited.
3. Check your hourly rate properly. Divide the pay for a period by every hour you worked, including unpaid opening, closing, training and travel between jobs. Our minimum wage checker does this and flags deductions that cut what counts.
4. Ask when the rise comes. An accredited employer can phase in the new rate up to 1 May 2027. Ask in writing for the date and keep the reply.

If you are not getting it

• Accredited employer, no rise by 1 May 2027: raise it with your employer or union first. If that fails, the Foundation has a form to report employers that are not keeping their promise. It can follow up with the employer, but it is a charity, not a regulator, and it cannot order back pay.
• Your contract promises the rate: paying you less may be an unlawful deduction from wages. Since 1 October 2026, most claims about deductions on or after that date must be started within six months less one day, and you normally have to contact Acas early conciliation first. Get advice from your union, Citizens Advice or a law centre, and use our tribunal deadline calculator as a starting point.
• You are paid below £12.71 (or your legal age rate): that breaks the law, accredited or not. Make a minimum wage complaint to HMRC, which enforces the minimum wage for the Fair Work Agency. You can ask it not to name you to your employer. See paid below minimum wage for the evidence to collect.