What is the minimum wage and how much is it?

The national living wage is to rise to £11.44 an hour in April 2024, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed.

About two million workers aged 23 and over benefit from the living wage, currently worth £10.42 an hour, and from April it will also apply to over-21s for the first time.

How much is the minimum wage?

The minimum wage - known officially as the National Living Wage - varies according to the age of the employee, and is updated every April.

From 1 April 2024, the rates will rise to:

• National Living Wage for over-23s: £11.44 an hour from £10.42
• National Living Wage for those aged 21-22: £11.44 an hour from £10.18
• National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds: £8.60 an hour from £7.49
• National Minimum Wage for under-18s: £6.40 an hour from £5.28
• The apprentice rate: £6.40 an hour from £5.28

The apprentice rate applies to people aged under 19, or people over 19 in the first year of their apprenticeship.

The minimum wage is the same across all parts of the UK.

Speaking at the Tory party conference in Manchester in October, the chancellor confirmed the minimum wage would rise to at least £11 an hour from April 2024.

But ahead of his Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt announced the increases for all age groups.

Do employers have to pay the minimum wage?

The retail, care and hospitality sectors account for a large number of minimum-wage jobs, although they are found in many other parts of the economy too.

Any employer not paying the minimum wage can be fined by the UK tax authority, HMRC.

If you think you should be getting the minimum wage and aren't, you can complain via the HMRC website.

You can also get advice from the Acas website or by calling its helpline on 0300 123 1100.

What happens if firms don't pay the minimum wage correctly?

In June, the government confirmed more than 200 firms had been fined nearly £7m and told to reimburse 63,000 workers for breaches dating back over a decade.

Companies involved include WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Argos and Lloyds Pharmacy.

WH Smith was the worst offender, having failed to pay more than £1m to more than 17,600 workers.

Who sets the minimum wage?

The rates are decided each year by government, based on the advice of an independent advisory group, the Low Pay Commission.

Its recommendations reflect how many people are in work, what's happening to earnings and how much people are having to pay for essentials such as food and housing.

Who isn't entitled to the minimum wage?

People who don't qualify include:

• the self-employed
• company directors
• volunteers
• members of the armed forces
• people living and working in a religious community.

Those with disabilities or in long-term unemployment who take part in government work programmes are paid fixed amounts at different stages of the scheme, which are less than the minimum wage.

Work done by prisoners is paid at a minimum of £4 a week, while students on work placements of less than a year as a required part of their studies are not entitled to be paid anything.

When was the minimum wage introduced?

The law to introduce the minimum wage was passed in 1998 by the Labour government and it came into force the following year.

It started at £3.60 for those 22 and older, and £3 for 18-21 year olds.

Before the minimum wage was introduced, the lowest-paid people consistently saw the slowest growth in their wages.

Did the minimum wage cost jobs?

Before the minimum wage was introduced, there was concern that it would cost jobs, because it was thought employers would compensate for their higher wage bill by hiring fewer people.

But this didn't turn out to be the case.

There's no evidence of an overall loss of jobs linked to the minimum wage, and only weak evidence of negative impacts on some groups of workers.

What is the 'Real Living Wage' and how much is it?

More than 430,000 workers across the UK benefit from the voluntary "Real Living Wage", which is overseen by the Living Wage Foundation charity.

It's above the level of the legal minimum wage, reflecting what the charity thinks people need to earn to cover everyday needs.

It is currently £13.15 an hour in London, and £12 an hour elsewhere in the UK.

There are more than 13,000 Living Wage-accredited employers, including Google, Ikea, Aviva, Nationwide and Burberry.

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