Hospitality minimum wage rates
What the law says you must pay, what the Real Living Wage asks for, and the tips and holiday rules that catch venues out. In plain English, effective from 1 April 2026.
Read this first
- The UK has no hospitality award. Pay is set by statute: the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage apply to every venue, whatever the job title. There are no separate chef or front of house rates, so the age of the employee decides the minimum.
- These are floors, not market rates. Venues that pay only the minimum lose staff to venues that do not. The Real Living Wage and salary benchmarks are where retention starts.
- This page is a guide, not legal or payroll advice. If anything here differs from the law, the law applies. Rates were last checked against GOV.UK on 5 October 2026. The next statutory change is April 2027.
The legal minimum, per hour
Rates from 1 April 2026. The rate that applies depends on the employee's age, so a worker moves up a band when they reach 18 or 21.
| Who | Rate | Per hour from 1 April 2026 | Previous year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 21 and over | National Living Wage | £12.71 | £12.21 |
| Aged 18 to 20 | 18 to 20 rate | £10.85 | £10.00 |
| Aged 16 to 17, not an apprentice | Under 18 rate | £8.00 | £7.55 |
| Apprentices aged 16 to 18, and apprentices aged 19 or over in their first year | Apprentice rate | £8.00 | £7.55 |
Apprentices aged 19 or over move to the rate for their age once their first year is complete. GOV.UK apprentice pay rules
The Real Living Wage
Voluntary, independently calculated against the real cost of living, and paid to workers aged 18 and over. It is the pay benchmark the Cookaburra Standard asks every venue to meet.
Across the UK, 2025 to 2026
In London, 2025 to 2026
The 2026 to 2027 rates are announced on 15 October 2026, and accredited employers then have until 1 May 2027 to implement them. Living Wage Foundation
Check a salary or hourly rate
Enter what you plan to pay. For an annual salary the check uses the salaried hours method: your salary divided by 52 weeks of contracted hours.
Enter a pay figure to see the check.
Where venues get caught out
Most breaches are not deliberate. They come from one of these five.
Tips do not top up pay
Tips, gratuities and service charges do not count towards the minimum wage. Base pay must reach the legal minimum without them. GOV.UK
Deductions can break the floor
Money a worker spends on things for the job and is not refunded for, such as tools, uniform and safety equipment, counts against their minimum wage pay. GOV.UK gives the example of £15 a week for uniform rental pushing an employee below the minimum, leaving the employer to pay arrears. Check the figure after the deduction, not before. GOV.UK
Staff accommodation is capped
Only £11.10 a day (£77.70 a week) of accommodation value counts towards pay. Charge more than that and the excess reduces pay for minimum wage purposes. No other benefit counts, including meals. GOV.UK
Salaries hide long hours
A salary that looks generous can fall below the minimum once real hours are counted. A chef on £28,000 working 55 hours a week is paid £9.79 an hour.
Trial shifts are work
Someone who does real work during a trial shift is likely to count as a worker, and a worker must be paid at least the minimum wage. An unpaid trial is only defensible where the person is observing or being assessed, not working, and the longer it runs the harder that is to argue. The safe course is to pay for every trial, and paid trials are one of the eight requirements of the Cookaburra Standard.
Tips, service charge and tronc
Since 1 October 2024 the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has required venues to pass on all tips and service charges to workers, with no deductions except tax. In practice that means:
- Pay it out in time. Tips must reach staff by the end of the month after the month the customer paid. A tip left on 23 June must be distributed by 31 July at the latest.
- Allocate fairly. Where the venue controls or influences how tips are shared, the method must be fair and transparent, and venues must have regard to the statutory Code of Practice.
- Write the policy down. Every venue needs a written tipping policy, available to all workers including agency staff.
- Keep records for three years. Workers can ask in writing to see the tipping record, once in any three month period.
- Tronc is allowed. A tronc run by an independent troncmaster remains a lawful way to distribute tips, provided the arrangement is fair.
Tax and National Insurance
The tipping law does not change the tax rules. PAYE must be operated on tips an employer pays to staff, and where the venue passes tips to employees through its own payroll, employer and employee National Insurance are usually due as well. A troncmaster who controls and shares the tips must run a PAYE scheme that is entirely independent of the venue's own, and the employer must tell HMRC the tronc exists. HMRC guidance on tips and troncs
Workers who believe tips are not being handled fairly can bring a claim to an employment tribunal. Code of Practice regulations
Holiday pay and employer costs
Statutory holiday
Almost every worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, capped at 28 days. Workers on irregular hours or part of the year accrue holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work in each pay period, which suits rota based and seasonal venues. GOV.UK
Employer National Insurance
For 2026 to 2027, employer National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (£96 a week). Many small venues can claim the Employment Allowance of £10,500 against it. Budget for this on top of salary when you set a role's cost. GOV.UK
The minimum is only the floor
Staff stay where they are paid fairly and treated well. Every venue we recruit for meets the Cookaburra Standard, which includes pay at or above the Real Living Wage.