What is the minimum wage and how much is it?

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Waiter taking ordersImage source, Getty Images

The National Living Wage volition summation from £9.50 to £10.42 an hr successful April.

That is the UK's ineligible minimum wage for workers aged 23 oregon over. There are little rates for younger workers.

The minimum wage goes up successful April each year, boosting the wage of astir 2 cardinal people. But the caller rates are announced successful beforehand to let firms to prepare.

The summation successful the minimum wage for over-23s volition beryllium 9.7% to assistance them header with rising prices.

How overmuch is the minimum wage?

The minimum wage is known officially arsenic the National Living Wage and it varies depending connected however aged the worker is.

From 1 April 2023, the rates volition change:

  • National Living Wage for over-23s: £9.50 to £10.42 an hour
  • National Minimum Wage for those aged 21-22: £9.18 to £10.18
  • National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds: £6.83 to £7.49
  • National Minimum Wage for under-18s: £4.81 to £5.28
  • The Apprentice rate: £4.81 to £5.28

The apprentice complaint applies to radical aged nether 19, oregon radical implicit 19, but successful the archetypal twelvemonth of their apprenticeship.

The minimum wage is the aforesaid crossed each parts of the UK.

How does the minimum wage work?

The UK nationalist minimum wage sets retired the lowest magnitude a idiosyncratic tin beryllium paid per hr by law.

The retail, attraction and hospitality sectors relationship for a ample fig of minimum-wage jobs, though they are recovered successful galore different parts of the system too.

Any leader not paying the minimum wage tin beryllium fined by the UK taxation authority, HMRC.

If you deliberation you should beryllium getting the minimum wage and aren't, you tin complain via the HMRC website. You tin besides get proposal from the Acas website oregon by calling its helpline connected 0300 123 1100.

Who sets the minimum wage?

The rates are decided each twelvemonth by authorities and based connected the recommendations of an autarkic advisory group, the Low Pay Commission.

It bases its recommendations connected the authorities of the economy, and considers however galore radical are successful work, what's happening to everyone's net and however overmuch they are having to wage for essentials specified arsenic nutrient and housing.

Who isn't entitled to the minimum wage?

People who don't suffice see the self-employed, institution directors, volunteers, members of the equipped forces, prisoners and radical surviving and moving successful a spiritual community.

People with disabilities oregon those successful semipermanent unemployment who instrumentality portion successful a authorities enactment programme are paid fixed amounts astatine antithetic stages of the programme, which are little than the minimum wage.

Work done by prisoners is paid astatine a minimum of £4 a week, portion students connected enactment placements of little than a twelvemonth arsenic a required portion of their studies are not entitled to beryllium paid anything.

When was the minimum wage introduced?

The instrumentality to present the minimum wage was passed successful 1998 by the Labour authorities and it came into unit the pursuing year.

It started astatine £3.60 for those 22 and older, and £3.00 for 18-21 twelvemonth olds.

Before the minimum wage was introduced, the lowest-paid radical consistently saw the slowest maturation successful their wages.

The instauration of the minimum wage reversed this trend, according to the Low Pay Commission.

Image source, Getty Images

Did the minimum wage outgo jobs?

Before the minimum wage was introduced, determination was interest that it would outgo jobs, due to the fact that employers would compensate for their higher wage measure by hiring less people.

But this didn't crook retired to beryllium the case.

There's nary grounds of an wide nonaccomplishment of jobs linked to the minimum wage, and lone anemic grounds of antagonistic impacts connected immoderate groups of workers.

What is the 'Real Living Wage' and however overmuch is it?

More than 300,000 workers payment from the voluntary "Real Living Wage", which is acceptable by the Living Wage Foundation charity.

It's supra the level of the ineligible minimum wage, reflecting what the foundation thinks radical request to gain to screen mundane needs.

It is present £11.95 per hr successful London, and £10.90 per hr elsewhere successful the UK.

  • The fig of Living Wage-accredited employers has doubled to 11,000 successful the past 2 years and includes Ikea, Nationwide and Burberry.
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