01/09/2011

Commission On Minimum Wage Visit

Two Low Pay Commissioners are to visit London next week on a fact-finding visit about the National Minimum Wage.

The visit is one of a number of planned trips the Low Pay Commission is making around the UK during 2011 to "gather information on how the minimum wage is operating".

The announcement comes only two weeks after he Association of Convenience Stores said it believes changes being made to national minimum wage levels were "hurting" independent retailers.

In October 2011, the minimum wage is expected to rise by 15 pence to £6.08 per hour.

Professor Bob Elliott and Heather Wakefield from the Low Pay Commissioners are expected meet a number of representatives in London to hear "first hand" what impact the National Minimum Wage is having on businesses and workers.

Professor Elliott said: "Hearing directly from those affected by the National Minimum wage is an important part of the Commission's work and informs our recommendations to the Government. Our visits take us around the UK and we welcome the opportunity to hear how the National Minimum Wage has affected people in London."

Meanwhile, figures released on Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed executive pay rates in the UK are likely to continue rising at a faster pace than those of average salaried workers.

The study aid four-fifths of executive pay consultants expected corporate compensation packets among FTSE 350 companies to increase next year, at a rate of between two and four per cent.

This would be on top of the 2.8% increase seen among businesses last year.

The National Minimum Wage for those aged 21 and over is currently £5.93 per hour. For those aged 18 to 20 the rate is £4.92 per hour. The minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds is £3.64 an hour. The Apprentice Minimum Wage is £2.50 per hour for those aged under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship.

(DW/BMcC)

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