Employers should be prepared for the imminent rise in National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates.
It is illegal for employers to pay below the NLW and stiff penalties can be imposed for failing to do so.
Around two million lower-paid workers will get the inflation-matching pay rise from 1 April.
£1,600 increase
The NLW will increase by 92 pence per hour, or 9.7 per cent, to £10.42 whilst the NMW rates, which apply to younger workers, will also increase.
The Government says this represents an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over two million low-paid workers.
For workers aged 23 and over, and not in the first year of an apprenticeship, they are legally entitled to at least the new NLW rate of £10.42 per hour.
What are the new rates?
Those aged 21-22 will earn £10.18 an hour, a 10.9 per cent increase, whilst 18–20-year-olds will receive £7.49 an hour, an increase of 66p.
Apprentices and 16 and 17-year-olds will receive £5.28 an hour, a 47p increase.
The rises will increase pressure on SMEs with having to also pay more on National Insurance and holiday pay.
How can costs be mitigated?
