Written by Mairead Simons

From 1^st April 2022, National Living Wages will be increasing. For over 22s this will mean an increase from £8.91 per hour to £9.50 per hour. For many, this will have a positive impact on their lives and is a far higher increase in wage then the previous 2021 rise.

For employees, the GOV.UK website is offering a helpful guide to find out if you are being paid in line with requirements for your age and job title. This can be found here: https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/. This is a really useful tool so all employees can make sure they are being paid fairly.

Companies should act accordingly and not just adjust current employee wages, but think about future hires and how much budget will now need to be put aside. Companies can now be named and shamed if they don’t pay the basic wage – so they should air on the side of caution when deciding employee wages, and make sure they are in line with all government guidelines in order to avoid charges.

The first National Minimum Wage was set in 1998 by the Labour government. Before that no official rate existed, although trade unions battled hard to fight their members' corner. Since the introduction of the national living wage, many employees have had more protection and stability within the workplace, and there has been very few negative effects relating to the introduction.

If you would like any guidance relating to the minimum wage change, and how this may affect your business, please feel free to get in touch with us at Pertemps Managed Solutions.