National Living Wage £11.44 from Apr 2024

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What do people think?

This is pretty decent I think.

It also starts at age 21 instead of the current 23, with under 21s getting the much less National Minimum Wage (not so decent).

Everyone above that is going to want the same increase though. What's the point in training and becoming skilled at something if you can get nearly the same on the bottom rung? Companies won't be able to afford to raise everyone up. They'll go under.

I think if you can't afford to pay your employees properly then there's something wrong somewhere along the line with your business model.

It should be at least £13 given how much prices have risen. Unfortunately companies will have to cut their cloth, instead of expecting the benefit system to supplement low wages.

I think it’s great that it’s increasing. I work for a charity that is already struggling with increased costs but still think it’s necessary. I wish there was some financial help for some organisations to cover this, particularly when we won’t be able to afford to raise other pay (for professionally qualified/very experienced staff) in line with it.

Agree, pretty decent and especially that it's starting at 21. University leaving age.
However, it is will cause knock on issued for people who are around £1 more than minimum wage at present because the gap will go and they'll expect a similar raise but many employers won't be able or willing to give it.

Benefits will likely continue to subsidise employers just as they do now.

No one should be working full time and getting benefits because they can't afford to live. I don't have much sympathy with employers who use benefits as a crutch to underpay employees.

It's £12 in Scotland which I am happy with. My username shows my job. I think it's a good hourly rate for what I do. I get paid more than my mum who has worked in the NHS for 20 years which I think is a disgrace.

I feel pleased it's going up . I've always felt that businesses / companies that can't pay employees properly aren't that viable .

I wonder at what point it starts to cause rather than cure inflation.

I work in NHS (kind of, GP surgery) and admin staff are on minimum wage. Some of whom have been here a very long time. It's appalling, really. We are meant to get a 6% raise this year (government funded) but if minimum wage goes up more than that anyway it kind makes that a bit of a kick in the teeth! Especially for those on just slightly more than that now as the gap will narrow.

Bit of problem when applying this to healthcare. I'd rather profit wasn't brought into it.

It would be great if the same raise was given to all the other low paid employees. Otherwise it makes it pointless having any responsibility or extra training when you could do something simple without the hassle.

I used to be involved in setting annual wages for a small charity. The 10% rise a couple of years ago was a big hit to us, however we raised everyone else's by 10% because it was important to maintain differentials. I'm not involved with them any more but can imagine the kind of scrutiny they'll be viewing the accounts with in order to maintain the difference this time around.

But if a tiny charity can do it, and at the same time identify how to take in more money or how to make cuts, then other employers can also do it.

Just putting this here.

I do fully agree people need to be paid more due to how much things have gone up in price.

Everyone is worth a decent wage but there are knock on effects to this.

I am an independent business. This ruling will mean due to the age of my one employee when this rate changes I will no longer be able to afford to keep them as their pay rate will go up by £4 an hour

Sadly this will mean them coming out of a skilled industry that there is a shortage of in this country because there is no way I can afford to pay an extra £600 per month out

In the last 12 months alone my business utilities as well as stock has gone up so I'm feeling the squeeze massively right now.

It's a luxury industry so I've increased my prices by 5% which hasn't even touched the sides of the utilities and stock so there's absolutely no chance I can increase again soon

It's the small independents that need some help

The big corporations can afford to pay the better rate because they put their prices up (think staple type industries) as people will always need to buy from them but it's not so easy for smaller businesses

I’m part way through accountancy training which has cost me time and money. I’m only earning a little more than this amount at the moment but the difference is I (hopefully) have a career path which means my pay will increase the further along I go. I think that (should) be the same for any professional work.

Yes it's an admin role my mum is in. I think it's shocking and you deserve so much more than the living wage and the 6%! It must put people off having careers like this knowing you can get paid more for having a low skilled stress free job like myself.

It sounds good but there are knock-on consequences.

The main one is that the interaction of minimum wage and tax credits - combined with not increasing the 40% tax threshold and the removal of child benefit and childcare support above 100k - means that actual take home income becomes very flat for many people regardless of how much they work.

This may be more of an issue for tax credits and the very high marginal tax rates for even middle earners but the incentive to get promotions or work more hours is significantly reduced when it is not rewarded with more income.

Everyone is worth a decent wage but there are knock on effects to this.

I am an independent business. This ruling will mean due to the age of my one employee when this rate changes I will no longer be able to afford to keep them as their pay rate will go up by £4 an hour.

I think you were massively underpaying them if I'm honest, and the government has caught up with that thinking, thankfully.

If everyone is worth a decent wage why wasn't your employee?

I think it would be better to just raise the tax allowance to take low earners out of income tax - it is ridiculously low at ~12,500.

It is easy to say business's who can't pay it shouldn't be in business but if the profit isn't there it isn't there - you can't magic money from nowhere of you are a small business. People will just lose their jobs. My partner has taken repeated wage cuts over the last few years rather than make people redundant following Brexit and COVID etc - a lot of small businesses are struggling along through no fault of their own.

Just weigh up the number of people working and getting too up benefits.

I think it's a good pay rise for low paid workers. I wish it would be put up at £12.50 per hour. It's wrong that people who work often full time in low paid but essential jobs have to claim benefits just to pay their bills. Last year my son got a 75 p pet hour pay rise. He just phoned me to say his boss has already said he will get £1 per hour this year. He is above minimum wage so not sure he'd get it.

Hopefully there will be either tax threshold rises or less NICs in tomorrow's budget. It's bad the thresholds have been frozen for so long.

No one on minimum wage will be impacted by this. At all.

a lot of small businesses are struggling along through no fault of their own.

I'm self employed and this is dead right.

But I still would work on my model if it looked like the only way to make a go of things was to employ someone on a terrible wage.

We run a small business, and have 2 staff on minimum wage - both non skilled. This now means that not only their wages will go up but everyone else will expect the same percentage. DH has just calculated that this means an extra £2k a month for us.

Our energy bills have soared, wholesaler/supply bills gone up by at least 30% since Covid, yet we simply can't put all of those costs onto our end product because the customers won't pay it. Our margins are shrinking by the month. We're both taking less salary than we were 3 years ago yet it feels like we're working twice as hard.

I wish I had the luxury of sitting on a pedestal looking down on those trying to make a living - ignorance must be bliss