New rates now announced
This article was written before the rates for 2024-2025 were announced on 21 November 2023. Find out the confirmed rates here:
National living wage 2024 rates announced
The national living wage will be at least £11 per hour from April 2024 – an increase of at least 5.7% – the chancellor has said.
In his speech today at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Jeremy Hunt said the government is waiting for the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission on national minimum wage rates, but that the national living wage will be “at least £11 an hour” next year.
“That is a pay rise for nearly 2 million workers,” Hunt said. “If you work hard, a Conservative government will always have your back.”
Earlier this year, the LPC consulted on the affordability and impacts of an increase in April 2024 to a national living wage rate of between £10.90 and £11.43, with a central estimate of £11.16. The rate currently stands at £10.42 per hour for people aged 23 and above.
Hunt’s speech also discussed changes to benefits rules. Last month, the Department for Work and Pensions launched a consultation on reforms to work capability assessments to better reflect disabled people’s potential job opportunities – including roles with home working arrangements. Health conditions including those around mobility, incontinence and social interaction may no longer be considered an obstacle to getting a job.
National living wage
Remaining with same employer can ‘trap’ low-paid in underpayment
Asked about getting people off benefits and into work, the chancellor told the BBC this morning: “We have to answer the exam question of how we deal with the fact that every year we are putting around 100,000 people on to benefits without any obligation to look for work in an economy where there are about a million vacancies.
“In particular, we have 300,000 people who have been out of work without any disability or illness for more than a year. What we want to do is have a society where work pays so what will be doing is, yes, we will be looking at the sanctions, but we also will be increasing the national living wage for people who do the right thing to more than £11 an hour.
“Why is that important? It’s because it means that compared to 2010, if you’re paid the lowest legally allowed wage, you’ll be £9,000 a year better off. So, what we’re saying is it’s carrot and stick, but we do need a society in which work pays and in which we encourage people to do the right thing.”
The government has a target for the national living wage to reach two-thirds of median hourly pay by October 2024.
Other potential changes considered by the LPC consultation include lowering the national living wage age threshold to 21, scrapping the minimum wage rate for people aged 21-22, which currently sits at £10.18 per hour.
The Living Wage Foundation, which independently sets the higher “real” Living Wage that many companies opt to pay, is announcing its new rates later this month.
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