Workers risk dropping below minimum wage from next year – use our calculator to see if you’ll be hit

The Sun reports the April 2027 rises to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage and warns salaried workers to check their pay against the new hourly rates. Its figures add up, and it gives the 37.5-hour week those figures rest on. One line states the £25,760 threshold as if it applied to anyone, leaving out that it holds only for full-time workers aged 21 and over.

1. Uses figures that mislead

   Minor

   “Anyone who earns less than £25,760 risks falling below minimum wage in a few months’ time.”

   Why this matters

   The words "Anyone who earns less than £25,760" present one salary figure as the threshold for every worker.

   The impression it gives

   A reader believes any worker on less than £25,760 a year, including part-time staff or 18 to 20-year-olds, is at risk of being paid below the legal minimum.

   The context

   The Sun's own later sentence shows the figure assumes a full-time week at the over-21 rate. A part-time worker or a younger worker on less than £25,760 can be paid lawfully. The qualification comes four sentences later, not in this sentence.

   How we know

   • Elsewhere in the article“For a standard 37.5-hour working week, the minimum yearly pay is rising from £24,785 to £25,760 in April 2027.”
   • Elsewhere in the article“rising to £11.27 an hour for 18 to 20-year-olds”