Following the 2024 budget, employers may have been hoping for fewer announcements that would directly affect the overall cost of paying their UK employees. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case. On the day before the 2025 autumn budget, the Treasury confirmed a further rise in the national minimum wage and national living wage to help employees with cost of living pressures. For employees who are at least 21 years old, the minimum wage is to increase to £12.71 per hour from April 2026.
