Cost of Living in the UK for Immigrants: Who Sets Each Price

What Is Published, and What Is Not

Search for the cost of living in the UK and you will find a monthly figure for London and another for everywhere else. No government body, statistics agency or regulator publishes either of those. They are estimates, and they are usually presented as though they were official.

A useful amount of the UK cost of living is published, because a named public authority sets it: your minimum hourly pay and the tax taken off it, what a prescription costs, what the dentist charges, what a unit of electricity may cost, and how council tax is worked out. Those are below, with their source. Everything else — the rent, the weekly shop, the bus fare, the nursery place — is set by a landlord, a shop, an operator or a provider. Rowan gives no number for those.

What You Can Be Paid, and What Is Taken Off

The minimum hourly rates from 1 April 2026, which apply whatever your immigration status:

• 21 and over (the National Living Wage): £12.71
• 18 to 20: £10.85
• Under 18: £8.00
• Apprentice: £8.00, for apprentices under 19 or in the first year of the apprenticeship. After that first year an apprentice aged 21 or over gets £12.71.

Income tax for the tax year 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: the Personal Allowance is £12,570 and is not taxed; £12,571 to £50,270 is taxed at 20%; £50,271 to £125,140 at 40%; anything over £125,140 at 45%. Scotland has different bands and rates, set by the Scottish Parliament. National Insurance is deducted separately, and its rates are published on GOV.UK.

A sponsored job has its own salary floor on top of the minimum wage. Since 22 July 2025 a Skilled Worker must be paid at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher, with a lower threshold of £33,400 for people who qualify for one. See our guide to work rights.

Housing: Nobody Publishes a Rent

Rent is the largest household cost and the least official. The landlord sets it. No government body publishes what a flat costs in a given city, and a figure you find quoted is somebody's average of adverts, not a published price.

What is set by rule rather than by market:

• The deposit must be protected. In England and Wales it must go into a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of the landlord receiving it, and be returned within 10 days of you agreeing how much comes back. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes.
• Right to rent checks apply in England only. A landlord in England must check that a tenant has permission to be in the UK, which you prove with a share code from your UKVI account. See right to rent for tenants and our guide to renting on a visa.
• Social housing is usually a public fund, so a no recourse to public funds condition affects access to it. See council housing for visa holders.

Council Tax and Domestic Rates

Council tax is charged on the home, not on the person's immigration status, so it applies whatever visa you hold. Two separate bodies decide what you pay: the Valuation Office puts the property into a band, and your local council sets the amount charged for that band in its area. There is no national figure, because every council sets a different one — your council publishes its own band table.

GOV.UK sets out the reductions: 25% off if only one adult lives in the home, and certain people are "disregarded" when the council counts the adults in a household, including full-time students, apprentices and live-in carers. Council Tax Reduction, the means-tested scheme, is a public fund and so is closed to someone with a no recourse to public funds condition.

Northern Ireland does not have council tax. It has domestic rates, made up of a regional rate and a district rate, and billed by Land and Property Services rather than by a council in the way the rest of the UK bills council tax.

Energy, Water and Broadband

Energy is the one household bill with a regulator setting a price. Ofgem sets the energy price cap every 3 months, and Ofgem is explicit about what the cap does and does not do: it caps the maximum a supplier may charge for a unit of energy and the standing charge, and "it does not limit the cost of your total bill". A household that uses more, pays more. The current cap level is published on Ofgem's site each quarter.

Water is different again: you cannot choose your supplier, because it is fixed by where you live, and prices are set by each company within limits agreed with the regulator, Ofwat. Broadband and mobile contracts are competitive markets with no cap and no published price.

Travel, Food and Childcare

None of these has an official price, and each is set by a different party:

• Public transport fares are set by the operator. In London that is Transport for London, which publishes its own fares and caps; elsewhere it is the bus company or the train operator, and there is no national fare.
• Driving brings costs set partly by rule and partly by market: vehicle tax and the MOT fee are published by GOV.UK, while insurance and fuel are not. See taking a driving test in the UK.
• Food is priced by the shop. The Office for National Statistics publishes how fast prices are rising, not what a weekly shop costs.
• Childcare is priced by the nursery or childminder. Free early-years hours exist in all four nations but the amount and the rules differ in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and most support of this kind counts as public funds. See childcare for visa holders.
• School is free, but uniforms and trips are priced by the supplier and the school. See school places for visa holders.

Health Costs, Which Are Published

Paying the immigration health surcharge does not make health care free. It gives access on the same basis as a resident, and residents pay for some things. GOV.UK says you still have to pay for prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests and assisted conception.

• A prescription in England is £9.90 an item. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A prepayment certificate caps the cost in England for people with several items a month. See prescriptions for visa holders.
• NHS dental charges in England are £27.90 for band 1 and for urgent treatment, £76.60 for band 2, and £332.10 for band 3. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own dental charges. See finding a dentist and health service charges for visa holders.

Immigration Costs on Top of Living Costs

These are published, and they are the part of a household budget that a person born in the UK does not carry:

• The healthcare surcharge, £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants, people on the Youth Mobility Scheme, and anyone under 18 on the date they apply — paid up front for the whole permission, and again at every extension.
• The application fee at every extension, which differs by route.
• Settlement, which is called indefinite leave to remain: £3,226 per person.
• Becoming a British citizen: £1,839, made up of £1,709 to apply and a £130 ceremony fee.
• The Life in the UK test: £50.
• An English language test, at the levels your route requires. GOV.UK publishes no price for one — each approved provider sets its own fee.

Our budgeting guide adds these up across a full route.

No Recourse to Public Funds

Most work and family permissions carry a no recourse to public funds condition, which is the single biggest thing shaping what a household can fall back on. GOV.UK publishes the list. Public funds include Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Child Benefit, Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Council Tax Reduction, and social housing and homelessness assistance.

The same guidance states that public funds do not include benefits based on National Insurance contributions. Outside the list are Statutory Sick Pay, statutory parental payments, Maternity Allowance, New Style Jobseeker's Allowance, New Style Employment and Support Allowance, Bereavement Support Payment, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and the State Pension. The published rules on GOV.UK say who each of those is for.

Free advice on money, debt and benefits is available from Citizens Advice and from community organisations, at no charge.

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