In advance of the biggest increase to the National Living Wage since its introduction in April 2016, the government continued its crusade to make work pay by naming and shaming over 200 employers who failed to pay the minimum wage. Lucy Flynn, employment lawyer, looks at the situation from a legal perspective and discusses the repercussions the named employers could face.
The 1998 National Minimum Wage Act provided for the establishment of a Low Pay Commission, which set Britain’s first ever National Minimum Wage (NMW) in April 1999, at 3.60 an hour for workers aged over 22. The NMW covered around 1.2 million adults, who had an average pay rise of 10% and despite concerns that the NMW would cost jobs, this did not turn out to be the case.
In April 2016, after many years of lobbying from various organisations, the government introduced a new mandatory national living wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and above and it now applies to all workers over 23. Initially set at 7.20, the NLW was a rise of 50p relative to the NMW at that time.
The minimum wage hourly rates have increased each year and will rise as follows in April 2022:-
• National Living Wage for over 23s: from 8.91 to 9.50
• National Minimum Wage for those aged 21-22: from 8.36 to 9.18
• National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds: from 6.56 to 6.83
• National Minimum Wage for under 18s: from 4.62 to 4.81
• The Apprentice rate: from 4.30 to 4.81
Furthermore, the Living Wage Foundation charity has set a voluntary “...
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