The government has agreed to the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission regarding the national minimum wage.  

Getting straight to it, here are the facts your business needs to be aware of. 

• Aged 23 or over (NLW rate): £8.91 (up 2.2% from £8.72)
• Aged 21 to 22: £8.36 (up 2% from £8.20).
• Aged 18 to 20: £6.56 (up 1.7% from £6.45)
• Aged 16 to 17: £4.62 (up 1.5% from £4.55).
• Apprentice rate: £4.30 (up 3.6% from £4.15).
• Accommodation offset: £8.36 per week (up 2% from £8.20).
• The new rates start from April 1st 2021

To say the last year has been tough for businesses is an understatement. With so many businesses have closed down, having to adapt to increase wages can be a difficult pill to swallow. I completely get it. Wages are the number one cost for the majority of businesses and any slight increase can severely impact whether you can stay in business or not.

But this doesn’t have to be the case. Most agree having a national minimum wage is a good thing for the economy as a whole, which in turn is good for business. So what can be done to help mitigate these increased costs?

Having run payroll for many customers now, the amount businesses are wasting money due to ineffective management of payroll is quite disturbing. On average at least 25-30% of costs can be saved by simple tweaks and effective management, which if you off-set that with the increase in wages, still leaves you better off.

For more information on the minimum wage increase or about ways of reducing your payroll costs get in touch.