167,000 people in London working on the National Living Wage received a 5% pay rise today, worth an extra £690 over the course of the year, in the biggest pay rise for low paid workers in 20 years. From 1 April, our National Living Wage will go up by the highest rate since it was first introduced, increasing by almost 5% to £8.21 per hour – giving almost two million of the lowest paid a pay rise.
This increase means that a full-time worker receiving the National Living Wage will be more than £2,750 better off over-the-year compared to 2015.
The Conservatives introduced the National Living Wage in 2016 and since then the lowest paid have seen their biggest pay rise in 20 years.
The changes coming into effect from the 1 April will mean:
Around 2.1 million workers are set to benefit – this includes 1.8 million people receiving the National Living Wage who will receive an additional £690 over the year – as the biggest ever increase to NLW comes into effect.
The National Minimum Wage is also increasing, to £7.70 per hour for 21 to 24-year olds and to £6.15 for 18 to 20-year olds, with workers in the retail and hospitality sectors due to benefit the most.
Mario Creatura, Parliamentary Candidate for Croydon Central, said:
“Today’s pay rise is good news for 167,000 workers in London on the National Living Wage, who will earn an extra £690 over the course of the year.
“The Conservatives introduced the National Living Wage in 2016 and since then we’ve seen wages for the lowest paid receive their biggest rise in 20 years – that means more hard cash in the pockets of hard-working Croydon residents at the end of each month.“
Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst said:
“We are committed to making sure that UK workers get a fair day’s pay and the rise in the National Living and Minimum Wage, benefiting millions of people and the biggest in its 20-year existence, delivers on this commitment.
“Our minimum wage rates are among the highest in the world and, through our modern Industrial Strategy, we are determined to end low pay and workers get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”
Notes
We’re boosting the pay of the lowest earners thanks to our National Living Wage
- We have introduced and are boosting the National Living Wage giving over 2 million worker a pay rise. From 1 April 2019 the National Living Wage will increase from £7.83 an hour to £8.21. This will benefit around 2.4 million workers and is a £690 annual pay rise for a full-time worker. In total, the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage worker will have increased by over £2,750 since the introduction of the NLW in April 2016 (HMT, Budget 2018, 29 October 2019, link).
- Thanks to our National Living Wage the lowest earners have seen their wages grow by 8 per cent above inflation since 2015. Supported by the National Living Wage (NLW), the lowest paid have seen their wages grow by 8 per cent above inflation since April 2015 (HMT, Budget 2018, 29 October 2019, link).
- At the Spring Statement the Chancellor announced we will conduct a review of minimum wages to inform our future policy. We appointed Professor Arindrajit Dube to undertake a review on the latest international evidence on the impacts of minimum wages. The review will inform wider work underway on the Low Pay Commission’s future remit (HMT, Review of the international evidence on the impacts of minimum wages, 13 March 2019, link).
- The Resolution Foundation has said that our National Living Wage has caused the biggest fall in low pay in 40 years. According to the Resolution Foundation, or low-paid workers on or near the National Living Wage recent earnings growth is stronger than for higher earners. They say it has ‘led to a significant and welcome boost to the pay packets of Britain’s least well-off workers’ (Resolution Foundation, 27 October 2017, link).
Enhancing workers rights
- Protecting and enhancing worker rights as the UK withdraws from the European Union. The government has made a commitment not to reduce the standards of workers’ rights from EU laws retained in UK law and will ensure that new legislation changing those laws will be assessed as to whether they uphold this commitment (BEIS, Press Release, 6 March 2019, link).
- Carrying out a review into modern working practices, to ensure we have the right structures in place to reflect the changing world of work. In July 2017 Matthew Taylor published the independent Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, which looked into the issues in our labour market such as the implications of new forms of work, the rise of digital platforms and impacts of new working models. The review found that the strength of the UK’s labour market is built on flexibility but that a clearer focus was needed on quality of work as well as the quantity of jobs (BEIS, Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, July 2017, link).
- In response, we introduced our Good Work Plan, accepting the vast majority of recommendations, improving the quality of work in the UK. The Good Work Plan sets out our vision for the future of the UK labour market and how the government will implement the recommendations arising from the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices (BEIS, Good Work Plan, 17 December 2018, link).
Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash
