Minimum wage expected to rise 3% to £6.50 an hour
The phrase “small mercies” comes to mind. There can however be no doubt that with “in work” poverty such a prevalent rural phenomenon this proposed increase in the minimum wage can only be a good thing for rural communities.
This article tells us:
Britain’s lowest-paid workers can expect an inflation-busting pay rise this year after the Low Pay Commission recommended a 3% rise in the minimum wage.
The rise to £6.50 an hour from October is expected to be the first of several above-inflation rises after a Treasury report said last year that the minimum wage should be restored to pre-crisis levels.
A letter from the commission to the business secretary, Vince Cable, who will make a formal decision on the new level in a few weeks, is understood to say that commissioners have agreed to put forward “a new phase of fast increases to restore real value” over the next few years.
Cable said the recommendation would be the first real-terms increase since 2008. “It is not dramatic, but it is important,” he said. The commission had balanced “fairness against the risks to employment” if the level was set too high, he added.