Minimum wage will rise by 21p in October

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is to increase by 3.8% in October, taking the adult hourly rate from £5.52 to £5.73. The youth rate (for workers aged 16 and 17) will rise by the same percentage, from £3.40 to £3.53, while a 3.7% increase will boost 18- to 21-year-olds’ minimum hourly wage from £4.60 to £4.77.

The increases, announced this month by the Low Pay Commission (LPC), were welcomed by TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

“The LPC was right to withstand pressure from business warning of economic trouble ahead,” he said. “Employers will be able to absorb these sensible increases without too much difficulty.”

But Dave Prentis, Barber’s counterpart at public services union UNISON, warned that the increases were not enough to “protect the poor from the constant price rises in essentials like fuel, food and housing”.

And Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of the general union Unite, pointed out that the NMW would be increasing by less than the current rate of inflation (see this issue's "Pay and prices" section).

“At a time when inequality is rising up the political agenda and business leaders are awarding themselves record pay rises, the lowest-paid workers continue to slip back,” he added. “This cannot continue.”