National Living Wage increases by 6.2% today

Operators are reminded that the National Living Wage (NLW) rate increases by 6.2% to £8.72 from today.

The statutory minimum wage for workers aged 25 and over increases from £8.21 following recommendations made to the government by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) in the autumn.

The move marks the biggest cash increase ever awarded by a government and will amount to an extra £930 a year for full-time workers aged 25 and over.

A further increase to the National Minimum Wage will also see pay increases for younger workers of between 4.6% and 6.5%. For 21- to 24-year-olds this will be a 6.5% increase from £7.70 to £8.20 an hour.

Almost three million workers will benefit from the increases, according to the Low Pay Commission.

Bryan Sanderson, chair of the Low Pay Commission, said: “Many of the nation’s key workers – in, for example, the care sector, agriculture, transport and retail – are low-paid, are continuing to work in very difficult conditions and will benefit from today’s increase. At the same time, the government has introduced a comprehensive package of support for employers to lessen the impacts of these extraordinary circumstances.

“Under our new remit, the government asks us to monitor the labour market and the impacts of the National Living Wage closely, advise on any emerging risks and – if the economic evidence warrants it – recommend that the government reviews its target or timeframe. This is what the government refers to as the ‘emergency brake’.

“The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic clearly represents a very challenging set of circumstances for workers and employers alike, and will require us to review whether the emergency brake is required when we next provide our advice to the government. This advice will be crucially dependent as always on the economic data we receive.”

The LPC will make its recommendations to government on the 2021 National Minimum Wage rates in October.

Photo: Shutterstock

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