NMW to increase again next year to £12.21 ph.

Very true.

Some larger businesses make huge profits so could pay. Benefits subsidise their low paid workforce

If you think UC don't hound you then you are very wrong.

I visited Primark recently, not been in years and tills had gone. Just self service and scan your receipt on the way out

In the last 6 or so years DH has had a 'considerable' pay rise working in a rural mid sized firm with professional qualification that's pretty hard to do. He worked out the other day that adjusted for inflation he actually hasn't had a pay rise at all. His wage has just kept up. Now as horrified as we were at the thought of this it really hit home just how little people on NMW and just above are actually being paid, and the difference in lifestyle they must be experiencing it that's your full time income. The whole of the UK is a disaster. Wages are so incredibly low and big businesses only get away with this because the taxpayer subsidises it. Support could be put in place for smaller businesses over the term of parliament but quite frankly after that if to you can't pay your staff a living wage then your not a viable business. We need to wean employers off benefits, not people !

im employed by a company,I am the only cleaner,the place would be shut down for health and safety reasons without a cleaner.

And how much is it in a couple of years time when they gained experience. Because people on minimum wage probably have 20 years experience but are still on minimum wage.

There are two ways of raising pay for minimum wage workers.
Personally I'd like to do all of it but I think raising tax and ni threshold is better than this because now she's got more people paying more tax and ni so they won't see much difference in their pay.

I think it's a sneaky way to raise more money and say hey we are raising standards.

Also, sorry to say this, but not all of us were able to afford to go to Uni. That is sadly a situation that is likely to prevail for my children too.

Do I think their work will be any less worthwhile because they didn’t spend 3 years at Uni getting a degree in poetry? No, I don’t.

Most degrees have little to do with the job you do or many are gained through your work, which involves getting your employer to play ball.

Having a degree is no measure of how hard you work at your job. Some of the laziest people I know are “educated”

Its a shame that it can’t just be accepted that everyone needs to be paid well, not just those deemed worthy.

I don't agree at all OP I'm a skilled professional, I earn considerably more than minimum wage, even my graduate wage was more than 6% higher than minimum wage before considering the increased earning potential over time compared to someone in a minimum wage job.

This is just being jealous of other people getting a boost, the same as the people who post threads about being better off on benefits, or better off if the gave up their 6 figure job. Spoiler alert, they never do.

I wonder how this will affect childcare costs? I thought nurseries barely were making even. I am so happy my children are older.

The post didn't say SW are on mw, it's saying there is now not much difference between MW and what a social worker would earn. In my council SW earns between 14 -15 per hour newly qualified,

And who pays your wage? (presuming you're a domestic cleaner) Who do you think people will drop like a hot rock the minute they feel the pinch?

So carers, childcare workers, teaching assistants, none of whom will require a degree to do their jobs, aren't worth a decent wage?

If everyone on NMW suddenly decided to 'better' themselves by getting a degree and jacking in their jobs as cleaners, dinner ladies, childcare workers, hospital porters etc etc, we'd be screwed. Because their roles are 'worth' far more than many earning excessive salaries.

People have killed themselves because they've been sanctioned and left with no money and no way to feed themselves. Often those the least able to access the system are the most vulnerable.

But it's not £14 an hr the average is £19.40 an hr that's a significant difference to minimum wage

While I agree some skilled workers should be paid their worth,I’m a cleaner,I work my arse off doing unsociable hours,I deserve to be paid a decent wage for once!

The government have raised it because higher wages lowers the “top up benefits ” bill.

This is fine if we’re talking about coffee shops, not so great when we are talking about vital services that have been handed over to private enterprise. Social care and childcare should be state funded, not dependent on business owners being able to squeeze a profit out of these services.

Birmingham City Council has declared itself bankrupt. Where will it find all the extra money to pay increases in NI and wages for bin men and other council staff? I agree that people should be paid higher wages but if the money isn't there, services are cut and Council Tax goes up.

No ultimately its society that pays - food bank use goes up, crime goes up, ill health and pressure on the NHS goes up etc..

We all pay more in the end if people at the bottom can't afford to live.

Their already is a big difference. But if you have a degree you have options that people on nmw don't have you can ask for payrises you can move companies. Usually jobs with degrees shoot up massively when your past entry level. For e.g. a junior dr wage won't be great but in 10 years it will have tripled. A minium wage worker will make no difference if your new or been there 20 years it's the same wage

Shouldn't expect any less from a website full of right wing high earners but this thread is depressing. Thank god the real world isnt like mumsnet where so many people look down on people working nmw jobs, or if they do they keep it quiet lol.

Point is, I am at work full time. I should earn enough that I don’t need UC to pay me promptly.

Social workers are not on a MW salary.
Anyone who feels hard done by certainly can go and work in a shop on MW, as it’s clearly so easy.

I find the argument against paying people £12.21 ph repugnant.

So you don't think there should be a difference?

I think there should be a big difference.