Minimum Wage to increase from April 2020

Almost 3 million workers in Britain are eligible for increased pay from April, after the UK government said it would increase the official Minimum Wage. The government said the “national living wage” for over 25s would increase from £8.21 an hour to £8.72 from the start of April 2020. It claims this amounts to a pay rise of more than four times the rate of inflation.

Workers over the age of 25 on the legal minimum wage, re-branded as the “national living wage” four years ago, will receive an annual pay rise of 6.2 per cent from April – more than quadruple the level of the consumer price index (CPI) gauge of inflation, which stood at 1.5 per cent in November.

The Treasury said the increase equated to an increase in gross annual earnings of around £930 for a full-time worker on the current minimum rate.

Pay rates will also rise above inflation across all other age groups, including:

• by 6.5 per cent for 21-24-year-olds to £8.20,
• by 4.9 per cent to £6.45 for 18-20-year-olds,
• by 4.6 per cent to £4.55 for under-18s and 6.4 per cent to £4.15 for apprentices.