Minimum Pay Recommended To Rise To £6.70 An Hour

The minimum wage should be increased by 20p to £6.70 per hour, the body tasked with setting it has recommended.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said the Government would now decide whether to adopt the Low Pay Commission's (LPC) recommendation and make an announcement later.

It is possible any change could be revealed in next month's Budget, he added.

The commission suggested that adults should be paid a minimum of £6.70 per hour, those aged 18-20 £5.30 an hour, those aged 16-17 £3.87 an hour and those on apprenticeships £2.80 an hour.

Mr Cable said: "Today the Low Pay Commission have made their recommendations to Government that the adult national minimum wage should rise by just over 3% to £6.70 an hour from October 2015.

"This would represent an annual pay rise of £416 for a full-time worker on the minimum wage.

"If this recommendation were accepted, the value of the minimum wage would be higher than when we came to office in 2010 and we are now making good progress towards restoring the value it lost during the financial crisis.

"I will now study these recommendations and consult my Cabinet colleagues with a view to announcing the final rates in the next few weeks."

Mr Cable said that the work of the Low Pay Commission was impartial and "without political interference".

"No government has ever rejected the main rates since it was established 15 years ago. It is important that it is able to continue to do its work 10 weeks before a general election," he said.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "It is good that the minimum wage is set to go up more than average earnings, but if the recovery is really as strong and sustained as the Chancellor claims, the commission could have been braver and given Britain's lowest paid workers a bigger boost."

Katja Hall, deputy director-general of the CBI, said: "The LPC has struck a careful balance. As the economic recovery cements, the commission has reconciled a desire to reflect this in pay packets while recognising that productivity growth - the key to sustainable pay rises - remains weak.

"We welcome the commitment to review next year's rise if the improved business environment doesn't materialise."