Chancellor Philip Hammond will announce that the UK‘s minimum wage will rise by four per cent from £7.20 to £7.50 in today‘s Autumn Statement.
This is another boost for his predecessor‘s “National Living Wage” scheme, which is already seeing retailers struggling due to their high staff numbers.
Set to come into effect in April next year, this will see the next phase of the incremental rises of the new wage rates.
This is set to reach £9 per hour in over the next three years, rising incrementally so as to offset the effect on retailers.
READ MORE: The National Living Wage & National Minimum Wage explained
The revised recommended living wage is now £8.45 an hour outside of London, and £9.75 within the city, meaning that although this is good news for workers it still falls short of rates needed to live comfortably.
John McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, recently stated he plans to bring in the real living wage, paying £10 per hour by 2020.
The full autumn statement will start at 12:30 pm today.
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