minimum wage

The national minimum wage is an important cornerstone of Government strategy aimed at providing employees with decent minimum standards and fairness in the workplace. It applies to nearly all workers and sets hourly rates below which pay must not be allowed to fall. It helps business by ensuring companies will be able to compete on the basis of quality of the goods and services they provide and not on low prices based predominantly on low rates of pay. The rates set are based on the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission.

The National Minimum Wage has increased again in October 2009

The minimum wage is a legal right which covers almost all workers above compulsory school leaving age. There are different minimum wage rates for different groups of workers as follows:

• The main rate for workers aged 22 and over is £5.80 an hour
• The development rate for 18-21 year olds stands at £4.83.
• £3.57 per hour for all workers under the age of 18, who are no longer of compulsory school age

The development rate for workers age 22 and over was abolished for pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2006. From that date, all workers aged 22 and over who qualify for the national minimum wage will be entitled to the main rate of national minimum wage. This applies even where the worker was previously in receipt of the development rate for those aged 22 and over and had been receiving that rate for less than 6 months.

It is important to note that these new rates only apply to pay reference periods beginning on or after the date they came into law.

Compulsory School Age

• In England and Wales: a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the last Friday of June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.
• In Scotland: pupils whose 16th birthday falls between 1 March and 30 September may not leave before the 31 May of that year. Pupils aged 16 on or between 1 October and the last day of February may not leave until the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year.
• In Northern Ireland: a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the 30th June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.

Accomodation Offset

• The daily rate of the accommodation offset is £4.51 (£31.57) per week) for each day that accommodation is provided.

For further information or if you think you are being underpaid, call the minimum wage helpline on 0845 6000 678