Minimal Rise for Minimum Wage
By Gail Escolme, 22 June 2010 –
The Government has announced today that the minimum wage will rise as follows from October this year:-
Adult Rate - £5.93
Young Workers - £4.92
16-17 years - £3.64
There will also be a new apprentice rate of £2.50
These increases are in line with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. However the rise in the adult rate is only 2% and not the 5.1% which is the May figure of the retail price index, the usual figure used to set the minimum wage.
However given the budget news any rise may be a little surprising and in any event will not cover the proposed increase in VAT by 2.5% in January.