Over two million workers are celebrating today as the minimum wage rises 2.2% to £8.91. This equates to approximately £345 for a full time employee.
This year the price rise is also for those aged 23 and 24, whereas before you would need to be 25 and over. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed it as a “Welcome boost to families across the UK”. However, in a move set to anger, thousands of furloughed employees have been excluded from the national rise.
Why divide the price rise?
The UK’s retail and hospitality industry will open on April 12th 2021, remaining closed due to Coronavirus. Paid 80% of their salary whilst furloughed, the employees will be anxious to return to work as soon as possible. Upon returning, they will be entitled to the pay rise. The House OF Commons Library estimates approximately 800,000 people are still furloughed.
Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds has voiced her unhappiness at the ‘freezing’ of furloughed workers pay.
Hitting Britain’s families in their pockets isn’t just wrong – it’s economically illiterate. If families have less money to spend, then businesses will suffer and the recovery will take longer.
Frances O Grady, general secretary of the Trade Unions Congress, added
Low paid workers on furlough have bills to pay like everyone else. The government should guarantee that everybody will at least get the full rate of the minimum wage. And it should give all minimum wage workers a decent pay rise”
Minimum wage raises from 1 April:
- From £8.72 to £8.91 an hour for workers over the age of 23
- Between £8.20 to £8.36 for those aged 21-22
- Starting from £6.45 to £6.56 for 18 to 20-year-olds
- From £4.55 to £4.62 for under-18s
- From £4.15 to £4.30 for apprentices
With the rise of most UK household bills; including electric, gas, and council tax, the pay rise will be welcomed by all. The anger of those excluded, whilst understandable, will hopefully be short lived as restrictions continue to ease in the UK.
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