Increases in Minimum Wages

Every year in April, new and updated employment law provisions come into force. The new National Minimum Wage increases have now been announced.

You may be asking yourself, why is this important?

Employers will be expected to comply with the new National Minimum Wage rates from 1 April 2023. Is your HR & payroll department ready?

The new rates will be:

Age 23 or over: £10.42
Age 21 to 22 – £10.18
Age 18 to 20 – £7.49
Age 16 to 17 – £5.28
Apprentice – £5.28

This reflects an increase of 9.7% to 10.9% across the categories. The increases are intended to support the living standards of lower paid workers in light of the cost-of-living crisis and to fall in line with the Government’s intention to reach two-thirds of median earnings of the relevant population by 2024.

The National Living Wage has therefore also increased to £10.42 (being the highest rate National Minimum Wage). This differs from the ‘Real Living Wage’ which is a wage set by the Real Living Wage Foundation. It’s entirely voluntary, but many employers choose to pay it anyway. The National Living Wage is based on median earnings, whereas the Real Living Wage rates are higher because they are independently calculated based on what people need to get by. For 2022/2023, the Real Living Wage is £10.90 (and £11.95 for London wages).

Should you require further information or to have some salary benchmarking information, please get in touch. We are happy to help you.