The Oxford Living Wage goes up 62p to £14.68 an hour, due by 6 April 2027. Today's £14.06 is now below the new UK real Living Wage. What changes for workers.

The Oxford Living Wage will rise by 62p to £14.68 an hour. Oxford City Council announced the new rate on Wednesday. Employers signed up to the scheme must pay it by 6 April 2027.

The current rate is £14.06, according to the council’s Oxford Living Wage page. The rise is 4.4%.

The Oxford rate is a voluntary wage that employers choose to pay. It sits above the legal minimum, the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over since April 2026.

How the rate is set

The council sets the Oxford Living Wage at 95% of the London Living Wage. That reflects Oxford’s position as one of the most expensive cities in the UK to live in.

The Living Wage Foundation announced its new rates on 15 October:

  • London Living Wage: £15.45 an hour, up from £14.80
  • UK real Living Wage, outside London: £14.10 an hour, up from £13.45

Ninety-five per cent of £15.45 is £14.68. The council says the Foundation has changed its method this year. It now combines cost-of-living measures with a poverty line set at 60% of median income.

Bar chart of hourly pay rates. National Living Wage for over-21s £12.71. Oxford Living Wage now £14.06. New UK real Living Wage £14.10. Oxford Living Wage from April 2027 £14.68. New London Living Wage £15.45.
Hourly rates compared. Chart by The Oxford Post
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A brief overlap

The new UK real Living Wage of £14.10 is 4p an hour more than Oxford’s current rate. Until April, an employer paying the Oxford Living Wage today is paying slightly less than the national voluntary rate the Foundation has just announced.

From April 2027 the Oxford rate is back ahead, at 58p an hour above the UK figure. Foundation-accredited employers have until 1 May 2027 to move to their new rates.

What it means for you

  • If your employer is on the council’s list, your hourly pay should be at least £14.68 by 6 April 2027. The council’s Oxford Living Wage page lists the accredited employers.
  • Over a year, for someone working 37.5 hours a week, the new rate comes to about £28,626. That is about £1,209 more than at £14.06, and about £3,842 more than the National Living Wage. These are our own calculations from the hourly rates, before tax.
  • If you run a business, joining is free. The council says 210 employers are now signed up, the most since the scheme began in 2018.

Councillor Mark Lygo, the council’s Cabinet Member for a Healthy, Fairer Oxford, said: “This year, over 210 local organisations signed up to pay their staff at least the Oxford Living Wage. That means thousands more local people are now paid a fairer wage!”

The council does not say how many workers are paid the rate. The Oxford Living Wage does not change what anyone is legally owed: the National Living Wage remains the minimum.

Sources