Minimum pay rates to rise to £8.21

THE national minimum wage for over-25s is to rise by 4.9 per cent above inflation next year in a boost for the low paid.

The minimum rate of pay will increase from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour for workers aged 25 and over from next April.

Rates will also rise from £7.38 to £7.70 for 21-24 year olds, from £5.90 to £6.15 for 18-20 year olds and from £4.20 to £4.35 for 16-17 year olds. Apprentice pay is planned to rise by 20p an hour to £3.90.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC), which recommends minimum wage rates, estimated that the increases will benefit around 2.4million workers.

Philip Hammond told MPs that the Government had an ultimate objective of ending low pay, while wanting to protect employment. In total, the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker will have increased by over £2,750 since the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) in April 2016, it was estimated.

Bryan Sanderson, chairman of the LPC, said: ‘The increase in the NLW will ensure a pay rise for the lowest-paid workers that exceeds both inflation and average earnings.

‘Over the past year, the labour market has continued to perform well and the economy, while subdued, has met the criteria of “sustained growth” set out in our remit.

‘We recommended an increase in line with a path to 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020. On current forecasts, we estimate that the NLW will reach this target at a rate of £8.62 in 2020.’