The 2026 wage rise: what an hour behind the bar actually costs now, and how many pints pay for it

£12.71 an hour is the number on the contract. It is not the number on your P&L. Add employer National Insurance at 15%, the 3% pension, and holiday accruing at 12.07%, and an hour behind your bar costs about £16. At an average lager price and a 55% GP, that's over seven pints of gross profit an hour, poured and paid for, before that hour has earned the business anything. Here are the new rates, the true hourly cost built up line by line, and the sums that say what the rise costs a pub over a year. Spoiler: for a mid-sized wet-led site it's roughly two points of GP.

I'm writing this in September because the next rise gets announced in the autumn and lands next April, and every year the trade waits for the headline and never does the arithmetic underneath it. The headline is 50p. The arithmetic is worse, and it's worth having in front of you before you set winter rotas and next year's prices.

The rates, April 2026 against April 2025

Statutory minimum hourly rates from 1 April 2026, against the year before. Source: gov.uk.

Band	April 2025	April 2026	Rise
21 and over (National Living Wage)	£12.21	£12.71	+50p (4.1%)
18 to 20	£10.00	£10.85	+85p (8.5%)
Under 18	£7.55	£8.00	+45p (6.0%)
Apprentice	£7.55	£8.00	+45p (6.0%)

Look at the second row before the first. Pubs run on 18-to-20-year-olds, and that band went up 8.5%, more than double the headline rise. The government has said openly it wants the youth rates closed up towards the adult rate, so build that into your planning: the gap you're used to is closing year on year.

What the hour really costs: the build-up

Take one member of staff, 21 or over, on the wage floor, working a normal week. Here's what their hour costs you once everything that hangs off a payslip is on it.

True cost of one staffed hour at the 2026 National Living Wage, worked for a 40-hour week, category A National Insurance. Author's arithmetic from gov.uk rates.

Line	Per hour	Where it comes from
Wage	£12.71	NLW from 1 April 2026
Employer NI	£1.55	15% of earnings above £96 a week
Pension	£0.29	3% auto-enrolment on qualifying earnings
Holiday	£1.53	12.07% accrual on casual hours
Total	£16.08	About 26% on top of the wage

If they're salaried the holiday line sits inside the salary rather than on top, but the shifts still need covering while they're on the beach, so the cost doesn't disappear, it just moves. Call it £16 an hour and you won't be far out for anyone over 21.

Two wrinkles worth knowing. First, the NI threshold. It used to be £9,100 a year before April 2025; it's £5,000 now, which is £96 a week, which is seven and a half hours at the wage floor. The Saturday-nighter who used to cost you no employer NI now does. Second, under-21s are on NI category M, which charges the employer nothing up to £967 a week. I'm not telling you to rota by birthday, that's a tribunal waiting to happen and your best barperson is your best barperson. I'm telling you why your payroll bill stopped matching your instincts.

And claim the Employment Allowance if you're eligible, which most small pubs are. It takes up to £10,500 a year off the employer NI bill, which for a small team is most of it. It's a tickbox in the payroll software, not a form. Check it's ticked.

How many pints pay for an hour

GP is what pays wages, so price the hour in pints. Take the Morning Advertiser's 2026 survey prices, strip the VAT, apply a 55% wet GP, and you get the gross profit one pint leaves behind. Then divide it into £16.08.

Pints of gross profit needed to fund one staffed hour at 2026 costs. Pint prices from the Morning Advertiser 2026 survey; GP held at 55%; author's arithmetic.

Drink	Price	GP per pint (ex VAT, 55%)	Pints per staffed hour
Average lager	£4.89	£2.24	7.2
Average cask ale	£4.91	£2.25	7.1
Premium lager	£5.94	£2.72	5.9

Seven pints an hour, per person on shift, just to stand still. Two staff on a quiet midweek evening need fourteen pints an hour of pure GP before the electric, the Sky subscription, the glasswasher rental or the duty you've already paid on the keg get a look in. That's not an argument for cutting staff. It's an argument for knowing the number, because a rota built on vibes is now a £16-an-hour vibe.

What the rise costs over a year, and what it equals in GP

The 50p rise lands on every staffed hour, and NI and pension ride on top of it. Here's the year, at three sizes of wet-led operation, next to what it means in GP points on £8,000 a week of wet takings.

Annual cost of the April 2026 rise (50p an hour plus 15% NI and 3% pension on the increase), against GP points on £8,000 a week inc-VAT wet takings, where one point is about £3,467 a year. Author's arithmetic.

Staffed hours a week	Extra cost a year	Equivalent in GP points
150	~£4,600	1.3
250	~£7,700	2.2
350	~£10,700	3.1

So a typical wet-led pub swallowed about two points of GP in April, on wages alone, before the February duty rise and whatever the autumn Budget brings. Two points is not a rounding error. Two points is the difference between a benchmark GP and a letter from the accountant.

You can't refuse the rise. You can go and get the two points back

Here's the part I actually want you to take away. Every line above is protected. You can't pay under the floor, you can't opt out of NI, and cutting service hours cuts the takings that pay for everything else. The wage side of the P&L is locked.

The stock side isn't. A 1% variance on £8,000 a week is £80, every week, which at 2026 staff costs is five staffed hours you're paying for and pouring away. In my own pub, five audits in eight months showed swings from £193 up to £756 down, and the down months weren't anyone drinking the profits, they were till mapping and waste nobody had priced. Finding those two points took a set of scales and a weekly habit, not a consultant.

So when the wage announcement lands this autumn and the trade press does its annual sharp intake of breath, do the sums on your own building. Cost your staffed hours at £16. Price the rise in GP points. Then go and find the points in the cellar, because that's the only place on the P&L they're still lying around. If you want the method, start with how often to count and how to work the GP out properly.

Common questions

What is the National Living Wage from April 2026?

£12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, up 50p from £12.21. The 18 to 20 rate rose to £10.85, up 8.5%, and the under-18 and apprentice rates both went to £8.00. Rates change every 1 April and are set out on gov.uk.

What does an hour of bar staff actually cost an employer in 2026?

Around £16 for a member of staff aged 21 or over, once you add employer National Insurance at 15% above £96 a week, a 3% auto-enrolment pension on qualifying earnings, and holiday pay accruing at 12.07% for casual staff. The £12.71 on the contract is about 79% of what the hour costs the business.

Do I pay employer National Insurance on part-time bar staff?

Yes, on earnings above £96 a week, which is about seven and a half hours at the National Living Wage. Before April 2025 the threshold was £9,100 a year, roughly double the hours, so casual staff who used to cost you no NI now mostly do. Staff under 21 are the exception: category M attracts no employer NI on earnings up to £967 a week.

What is the Employment Allowance and should a pub claim it?

It knocks up to £10,500 a year off an eligible employer's National Insurance bill, claimed through payroll software. For a small single-site pub with a handful of staff it can wipe out most or all of the employer NI from these rises, so check with whoever runs your payroll that it's switched on.

Can better stock control really offset a wage rise?

It's the same money. A 1% stock variance on £8,000 a week of wet takings is about £80 a week, which at 2026 staff costs is five staffed hours. You can't legally pay less than the wage floor and you can't cut service hours without losing trade, but stock loss has no such protection. It's the one line on the P&L that gives the money back without anyone working harder.