NMW to rise to £11.44 per hour in April 2024

[MikeRafone]

Good news for those on NMW, as there wages will rise from £10.42 to £11.44

This is a big rise before a general election...

Great, now they'll reduce my hours

Well I can't begrudge the lowest-paid workers getting a 10% pay rise but isn't this bizarrely inconsistent?

The Prime Miniature has spent the last 18 months telling everyone they can't have a pay rise at anywhere near the level of inflation because it would fuel inflation - even though pay rises for public sector workers wouldn't fuel inflation.

Now all of a sudden the lowest-paid workers (retail, hospitality, security, nursery workers, carers etc.) get a 10% increase - that most certainly will fuel inflation - and make many businesses unviable.

I suppose if they've penciled in the general election for next May they won't have to deal with the repercussions of this.

Yip Asda is the same, everytime min wage goes up something goes.

Even though ill benefit from this, surely it'll increase inflation. How are the local cafes and small businesses going to cope? They'll have to put the price up. Fine for the big corporations but small businesses will struggle.

Exactly, i work for an independent business.. gawd knows what the solution is though

I'm sorry for saying this as it feels really wrong given that I am all for the lowest paid workers being paid more but I fear that the continual increase of NMW/NLW is likely to affect small and medium businesses the most as they're the most likely to be unable to absorb the additional cost or it will reduce their profit margin to levels that don't make it worthwhile? Most SME's are not run by greedy conglomerates.

@Northernsouloldies That, or they’ll increase their prices. Then we’re back where we started.

£23,753 pa for a 40 hour week seems quite a high wage for my area. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and started on a YOPS at £25 pw.

What's with the random 1.02 increase? Why not just do £1?

It probably puts anybody on their mandated minimum hours slightly over some UC threshold.

UC doesn't work like that, that was tax credits.

It certainly does work like that. If you're not earning the equivalent of 35 hours pw at minimum wage you're expected to be looking for work, unless you've got kids under 5 or are disabled or a carer.

My friend keeps being nagged by them because she earns around £10/month less than 35hrs x minimum per week. She's an SEN TA and only works term time.

Is this going to be knocked on up the chain to make it worth taking on extra responsibility? How does this affect the cost of the public sector and the massive under spend there? More jobs lost?

Good. Well done to the government. I’m expecting more measures to be announced to ‘persuade’ people who are currently living on benefits to work to support themselves instead. Let’s hope so, because this would benefit everyone.

The bigger change is that min wage will start from 21 years old, down from 23. It's a massive pay rise for students and a tacit recognition that young adults might be worthy of a vaguely living wage before their mid-twenties.
That, or they want more taxpayers and fewer UC claimants (which is fair enough, UC has topped up poor wages and subsidised employers for too long).

It's still grossly unfair at an 18 and 21 year old get paid different amounts for doing exactly the same job.

The thing with all these NMW increases which are obviously great for the lowest earners mean there is now little point in me having all the stress/responsibility of my job for just a few pence an hour more.

I wish mine was going up. NMW has gone quite a lot over the last few years - which is good. But mine has hardly gone up at all. I earn a couple of pounds more per hour than NMW and the gap between NMW and my wage has significant;y closed over the last few years.

You won't be alone in feeling this way. I suspect a lot of people in the 30-40k bracket will not be happy.

If you have lots of responsibility and your wage no longer reflects that, take it up with your employer. A major reason men's wages outstrip women's is because men are more likely to ask for pay rises and move roles for career advancement more than women do.

@SoMuchSimpler he's not been saying that 10%+ is not realistic for everyone. As a pensioner I got a 10.1% increase in my state pension, and the same in my occupational pension, ex civil service. Go figure why i, a retired civil servant, "deserved" 10.1%, while working civil.servant "deserved" 5%.

Yes. A friend has remained a lowest-level worker in retail because the premium for moving up a level to supervisor was only 10p/hour - or £1.60 pw for her. And even that would cut her benefits!

What's the actual difference? Sorry I can't do the maths.

That's ridiculous! I'm going to need some sort of online calculator to work out if it's worth it

Why are they only doing this now? Oh yeah there’s an election looming 😂