National Living Wage to rise to £7.50 an hour

The Chancellor used the Autumn Statement to outline that his government will be following the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission, the government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) by 4.2% from £7.20 to £7.50 from April 2017.

The Chancellor said that this is an estimated pay rise for over a million workers.

In total, earnings for a full-time worker on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will have increased by over £1,400 a year since the introduction of the NLW in April 2016.20 The government’s target is for the NLW to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020 subject to sustained economic growth.

The government will also accept all of their recommendations for the other NMW rates (which were last increased in October 2016) to apply from April 2017, including increasing the rate for:

– 21 to 24 year olds from £6.95 to £7.05 per hour

– 18 to 20 year olds from £5.55 to £5.60 per hour

– 16 to 17 year olds from £4.00 to £4.05 per hour

–  for apprentices from £3.40 to £3.50 per hour

The Chancellor will also invest an additional £4.3m per year to strengthen NLW enforcement.