Minimum wage set to increase

The
Chancellor Gordon Brown looks set to raise the national minimum wage (NMW) in
next week’s Budget.

The
Financial Times reports that the Low Pay Commission has confirmed the economy
presents no bar to raising the NMW by 35p to £4.85 per hour.

The
rise – due to come into effect in October – will amount to almost 8 per cent,
making it the second year running that Brown has raised the NMW by well above
the average for UK workers.

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Brown
is also expected to endorse the commission’s recommendation of a 30p increase
in the rate for 18 to 21-year-olds to £4.10, and the first minimum wage for 16
and 17-year-olds.

By Mike Berry