The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced on Monday 2nd October that the National Living Wage is due to rise to at least £11.00 per hour for those aged 23+ years in April 2024, from £10.42 per hour.
Earlier this year the Low Pay Commission consulted that the National Living Wage should sit between £10.90 – £11.43 per hour, with a central estimate of £11.16 per hour. The Government is still waiting for further recommendations from the Low Pay Commission on the remaining National Minimum Wage rates, but they have confirmed that the National Living Wage will be at least £11.00 per hour.
This would see an increase of at least 5.7% to the Living Wage and give a pay boost next year worth over £1,000 for 2 million low-paid workers. According to the Gov.uk website, a full time worker on the National Living Wage will be over £9,000 better off than they would have been in 2010.
The Low Pay Commission are also considering lowering the National Living Wage age threshold to 21, which currently sits at 23+ years, and scrapping the minimum wage rate for people aged 21-22 years.
The current National Living / National Minimum Wage rates from April 2023:
| Rate from April 2023 | Increase % from April 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 23+ Years | £10.42 | 9.7% | |
| 21-22 Years | £10.18 | 10.9% | |
| 18-20 Years | £7.49 | 9.7% | |
| 16-17 Years | £5.28 | 9.7% | |
| Apprentice Rate | £5.28 | 9.7% | |
| Accommodation Offset | £9.10 | 4.6% |
The National Living Wage is the lowest amount workers aged 23 and over can by paid per hour by law.
The National Minimum Wage is the minimum pay per hour workers are entitled to by age under 23 years.
In a statement from Jeremy Hunt, he said:
“That is a pay rise for nearly 2 million workers, if you work hard, a Conservative government will always have your back.”
Jeremy Hunt was also questioned by the BBC as to how he is going work on getting people off benefits, he said:
“We have to answer the exam question of how we deal with the fact that every year we are putting around 100,000 people on to benefits without any obligation to look for work in an economy where there are about a million vacancies. In particular, we have 300,000 people who have been out of work without any disability or illness for more than a year. What we want to do is have a society where work pays so what will be doing is, yes, we will be looking at the sanctions, but we also will be increasing the national living wage for people who do the right thing to more than £11 an hour.”
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