Minimum Wage Rates from April 2023 Announced

Following the Chancellor’s long awaited budget announcement, we now know what National Minimum and National Living Wage rates will be from April 2023

With effect from 1 April 2023, National Minimum Wage (NMW) will increase as follows:

	Current Rate (April 2022 – March 2023)	New Rate (with effect from 1 April 2023)
23 and over	£9.50	£10.42
21 to 22	£9.18	£10.18
18 to 20	£6.83	£7.49
Under 18	£4.81	£5.28
Apprentice	£4.81	£5.28

 

The increases to the top two rates are much higher than we have seen in previous years, being 9.7% and 10.9% respectively and continues to narrow the gap between the two rates.

These new rates are those recommended by the Low Pay Commission. 

These increases are against the backdrop of the announcement that the UK is now in recession and at a time of increasing energy rates and rising costs of living, which will significantly dampen the actual effect this change will have in real terms.

With the ongoing skills shortage in many industries, employers with a large number of minimum wage employees will need to consider ways to ensure that they are attracting and retaining staff. If employers are unable to offer higher wages, other employee engagement tactics will need to be considered.

 

Other statutory rate increases

Other new statutory rate increases for April 2023 are as follows:

•  The weekly rate for Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared Parental and Parental Bereavement Pay, and the Statutory Maternity Allowance will increase from £156.66/week to £172.48/week.
•  The weekly rate of Statutory Sick Pay will increase from £99.35/week to £109.40/week.

 

How can we help

If you would like more information about pay, benefits or recruitment (including recruiting from abroad), please contact us at [email protected].

For a look back at key employment and immigration developments of 2022, please view our webinar "2022 - the year that was".