National Living Wage is now Law
If you employ anyone aged 25 or over, you are now legally obliged to pay them £7.20 an hour. New legislation took effect from 1 April. Make sure you are not ‘named and shamed’.
Most employers are probably aware of the National Minimum Wage (NMW). It has been with us for several years now and prescribes the minimum amount of remuneration that must be paid to an employee. However from this month the National Living Wage (NLW) for those aged 25 years or over has come in to being.
NLW is effectively a supplement to the NMW and means that all workers (but not self employed) aged 25 years and over must be paid a minimum of £7.20 per hour, being an increase of 50p per hour.
Failure to pay NMW can lead to enforcement action by the Government and employers failing to pay can also be named and shamed in Government published lists. Since October 2013, over 490 employers have been “called out” for non-payment. Dismissing an employee because they might be eligible to receive NMW would constitute automatically unfair dismissal and the same will almost certainly apply to those who ought to receive NLW. Failure to pay NMW can lead to civil and, in some cases, criminal, enforcement action.
NMW still applies to anyone younger than 25. For a breakdown of the various applicable rates please go to www.livingwage.org.uk.
Please call us on 01707 329333 if you need more help with any of these issues.