Pay and The Minimum Wage

Contents
1. Pay statements 2. The National Minimum Wage 3. Guaranteed pay

An employer must ensure that all employees are provided with written pay statements showing:

• Their gross pay
• All deductions made
• Their net pay and, if paid in more than one way, the amounts and method of each part payment

On 1st April 1999 the National Minimum Wage came into force throughout the UK. The minimum wage is a legal right which covers almost all workers above compulsory school leaving age. There are different minimum wage rates for different groups of workers. As at 1 October 2010 these rates are:

• The main rate for workers aged 21 and over is currently £5.93 an hour
• The development rate for 18-20 year olds is currently set at £4.92 an hour
• The development rate for 16-17 (under 18) year olds is £3.64 an hour
• The rate of the accommodation offset is currently £4.61 per day

Please note that these rates are updated every October.

Most workers in the UK, including homeworkers, agency workers, commission workers, part-time workers and piece workers are entitled to the minimum wage and refusing to pay it is a criminal offence. Dismissing a worker because he or she becomes eligible or complains about not being paid the National Minimum Wage will constitute unfair dismissal.

From 1 October 2006, the Employment Equality (Age) regulations (or Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 in Northern Ireland) abolished the Older Workers Development Rate and removed the age limit on the apprenticeship exemption.

You may be required to prove that you are paying the National Minimum Wage and this means that you must keep sufficient records and allow access to them if required.

For more detailed information, look at the information from the Business Link website. Their website can be found below:

NMW from Business Link

In some cases employees who are laid off may be entitled to payment. A lay off is not the same as a redundancy and the regulations covering each situation are very different.