The Government announced this week (1st October) that the adult minimum wage rate has been increased from £5.73 to £5.80 an hour, the youth rate for those aged 18 to 21 has increased from £4.77 to £4.83 and the rate for workers aged 16-17 years would increase from £3.53 to £3.57.It has also been announced that the main national minimum wage rate will be extended to apply to 21 year olds from October 2010. The main rate currently applies to workers aged 22 and over.
Commenting on the rise, Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA said ““The Government is working to maintain a minimum wage inline with economic needs. It is also tightening up enforcement of the minimum wage with new measures, including:
• A fairer way of dealing with national minimum wage arrears, calculated to ensure that employees do not lose out as a result of underpayment.
• Tougher penalties for employers who break the law, increasing the maximum penalty for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage from £5,000 to an unlimited fine.
• Serious cases of non-compliance will in future be tried in a Crown Court.
The Government also suggested that it would draw up plans based on the LPC recommendation that employers who show ‘willful disregard for minimum wage laws’ should be named and shamed."
Gareth, APA.
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