Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed he intends to honour the Low Pay Commission’s upcoming recommendations which are expected to call for the National Living Wage to be increased to two-thirds of median earnings in the UK.
The Low Pay Commission has advised the government on recommended levels for minimum rates of pay since the introduction of the National Minimum Wage in 1999. Its latest recommendations for updating the National Living Wage will be announced in November, with current forecasts like to see the minimum hourly wage for workers over 23 rise to more than £11 per hour.
The Chancellor yesterday (2nd October) committed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations. The announcement, after successive rises in the National Living Wage rate since its introduction in July 2015, means a full-time worker will be over £9,000 better off than they would have been in 2010.
The increase in the National Living Wage is expected to lead to uplift in income for around 2.5 million people across the UK, of whom approximately 300,000 are in the North West region.
Since 2016, the National Living Wage was targeted to rise to 60% of median income by 2020, which was achieved in October of that year. The two-thirds target was announced in 2019 and is expected to be achieved when the National Living Wage increases in April 2024.
The Low Pay Commission is an independent body made up of representatives from business, employee and academic communities and reaches a consensus agreement on uprating the rates of the minimum hourly wages.
The Low Pay Commission’s recommendations are expected to be announced in November, with the Chancellor’s Autumn statement (which will formally announce the new rate for the National Living Wage from April 2024) to be presented to Parliament on 22nd November.
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