New National Minimum Wage rise starting this weekend set to give nearly two million workers pay boost

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Around 1.7million workers are set to receive a “significant” pay boost when the National Minimum Wage (NLW) increases from Saturday, April 1.

The Resolution Foundation said that the 92pence rise to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over is equivalent to a near 10 per cent increase.The think tank said the increase is the biggest annual cash rise in the 24-year history of the minimum wage and one of the largest annual percentage rises.

The foundation said the scale of the increase means the lowest-paid workers will enjoy a “rare” real-terms pay boost.Around 1.7million workers currently earning up to 5pence above the current minimum wage will directly benefit in full from the increase in the NLW, though potentially another five million low-paid workers will benefit indirectly from its ‘spillover’ effects as employers look to maintain differentials between pay bands.The foundation said that since its introduction in April 1999, when it was £3.60 for workers aged 22 and over, the minimum wage has transformed hourly pay inequality across Great Britain.

But it said inequality has remained high and largely unchanged, saying action on low pay must be complemented by wider drives on employment, taxes, benefits and housing costs if living standards for low and middle-income families are to rise.Nye Cominetti, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “From tomorrow, millions of Britain’s lowest earners are set for a significant pay boost as the national living wage rises by almost £1 an hour.