Young people in UK boosted by National Living Wage

Young workers have received a pay rise thanks to the National Living Wage even though it only legally applies to over 24-year-olds, a new study shows.

Research by the Resolution Foundation among social care workers in England found that just over half benefited from the new £7.20 an hour rate, which came into effect in April, rising to four out of five young employees.

The thinktank said there were wider knock-on benefits for pay in the sector, with no evidence of employers cutting back on shifts to finance the wage rise.

The report also revealed a “bunching” of pay rates at the legal minimum, saying this was a cause for concern.

The extra cost of the Living Wage in social care is set to reach £2.3 billion by 2020, said the Resolution Foundation.

Senior researcher Laura Gardiner said: “It is great news that the National Living Wage has had a large positive impact on pay in social care, giving hundreds of thousands of frontline care workers a pay rise, with no evidence of hours being cut to foot the bill.

“It is encouraging that younger workers have also benefited from the new 25-and-over rate, despite having no legal entitlement to the National Living Wage.

“In fact, across the age range social care employers are clearly doing much more than the bare minimum where pay is concerned, with the average pay rise double what it would have been had bosses just increased pay to the legal wage floor.

“As the Living Wage continues to rise to its target value by 2020 we risk reaching a crunch point where a lack of funding leaves the care sector unable to continue to spread the benefits.

“Our ageing population combined with the prospects of reduced inward migration post-Brexit make it essential that more public funding is available for care providers to attract and retain the care workforce we need.”

There are one and a half million adult social care workers in England, with a sample of 200,000 covered in the report.