National living wage to rise to £9.50

The national living wage will rise 59 pence from £8.91 to £9.50 from 1 April 2022

The Treasury has announced that the Chancellor will increase the national living wage by 6.6% which is expected to give a full-time worker, working 35 hours per week, an extra £1,000 per year.

The national minimum wage is to also rise with 21–22-year-olds seeing an increase of 9.8% or 82 pence from £8.36 to £9.18 an hour and the wage for 18–20-year-olds will increase by 4.1% from £6.56 to £6.83.

The wage for 16–17-year-olds is to rise by 19 pence from £4.62 to £4.81 an hour and with apprenticeships a key part of the government’s Plan for Jobs they will also see an increase of 52 pence going from £4.30 an hour to £4.81.

Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak said: ‘This is a government that is on the side of working people.

‘This wage boost ensures we’re making work pay and keeps us on track to meet our target to end low pay by the end of this Parliament.’

The rise was recommended by campaign group the Living Wage Foundation with the Treasury stating that it had ‘accepted all the recommendations from the advisory board’.

The statement also says that the government remains committed to meeting the target of a national living wage of two-thirds of median earnings and expanding it to include workers over the age of 21 by 2024.