National Living Wage & National Minimum Wage

From 1st April 2024 the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage will increase under the advice of the Low Pay Commission. The changes are designed to protect as many low paid workers as possible without causing damage to the employment market or the economy. This year’s changes will see around 3 million UK workers, including apprentices, receiving an increase in their pay.

What is changing?

The updated National Living Wage (for those over 21) and National Minimum Wage (for those from school leaving age to 20 years old) is as follows. All rates have increased by more than £1 per hour meaning that a full-time employee on the National Living Wage will see an increase of £1800 per year, whilst a full time employee over 21 will receive £2300 more than in 2023.

What do employees need to do?

Your employer should automatically update your rate of pay if you currently receive a rate that is lower than the new National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage. You can work out if you are being paid less than the National Living Wage or  National Minimum Wage using HMRCs calculator. If you think you are being paid incorrectly you should first approach your employer who should resolve the issue and pay any arrears. If this doesn’t solve the problem you can contact HMRC for help.

What do employers need to do?

All employers, however small need to pay the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage. You can find out more about the regulations to help you ensure you are paying your employees the correct amount here. HMRC also has a handy calculator to help you work out how much you should be paying your employees. Any errors could result in an employer having to back-date payments and even an additional fine.

Here at Gooding Accounts our dedicated payroll team stay fully up-to-date with the changes so you don’t have to! If you’d like to take the hassle out of your payroll processing reach out to us at info@goodingaccounts.co.uk for more detail on how we can help.

Is anyone exempt from the National Living or National Minimum wage

There are a number of types of workers who are not entitled to the National Living or National Minimum Wage. These include:

• the self employed
• company directors
• volunteers
• members of the armed forces
• workers younger than 16 years old
• higher and further education students on work experience or a work placement up to one year
• people shadowing others at work
• people working on a Jobcentre Plus Work trial for up to 6 weeks
• family members of the employer living in the employer’s home
• non-family members living in the employer’s home who share in the work and leisure activities, are treated as one of the family and are not charged for meals or accommodation, for example au pairs
• people living and working in a religious community

Our dedicated payroll practitioners are here to help take the hassle out of your payroll processing.

Contact them on payroll@goodingacounts.co.uk