Don’t Be A Minimum Wage Cheat – New Rates Are In Force Now

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Around 2.5 million UK workers should have received a pay rise, as the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage increase came into effect on 1 April – but if you fail to pay it or implement it on time, you may face a fine.

The move will give full-time, low paid workers over the age of 23 £1,000 extra a year following the largest ever uplift.

With the rise, the yearly earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will have increased by over £5,000 since the introduction of the National Living Wage in April 2016.

The National Living Wage, the minimum wage for over 23 year-olds, will now move up to £9.50 an hour.

Last year, the age threshold for the rate moved from age 25 to 23, meaning that more young workers are now eligible for a higher wage.

But the current rise along with an increase in National Insurance payments, plus the supply chain and energy crisis, will put another burden on overstretched businesses.

The new National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates are both statutory minimums and businesses are encouraged to pay workers above these whenever they can afford to do so.

 “We have never been more determined to make work pay and by providing the biggest cash increase ever to the National Living Wage, we are giving a boost to millions of UK workers.”

– Kwasi Kwarteng 

Business Secretary, Member of Parliament

The government also announced it will be launching a communications campaign in the coming weeks to help increase understanding among minimum and living wage earners around the wages they are legally entitled to, as well as the steps they can take if they are concerned they are being underpaid.

The first step would be to go to the Check Your Pay site (see video below), which also offers advice on what to do if you are being underpaid. For details – Click Here

Picture: Complain if you are not being paid what you should be by law.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
08th April 2022

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