The national minimum wage rate for apprentices will increase from £3.30 to £3.40 from October 1.
The announcement was made by Sajid Javid (pictured), Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in a written statement to parliament this morning, the first day on National Apprenticeship Week 2016.
He explained that the Low Pay Commission’s 2016 report made the recommendation for the apprenticeship increase.
The government plans to fulfull along with all other recommendations on the National Minimum Wage, which include that the adult hourly national minium wage rate for 21 to 24-year-olds should increase from £6.70 to £6.95.
Other commission recommendations set to be implemented by the government include increasing the youth development rate, which covers aged 18 to 20-year-olds, should go up from £5.30 to £5.55, while the rate for 16 to 17-year-olds should rise from £3.87 to £4.00.
It also recommends that the apprentice rate should increase from £3.30 to £3.40. The Commission recommend that all of these changes take place from 1 October 2016.
He added: “On the subject of compliance and enforcement of the National Minimum Wage, the Low Pay Commission’s report recommends that the government considers introducing a requirement on employers that the payslips of hourly-paid staff include a clear statement of hours being paid for, and that the government introduces a formal, public protocol for HM Revenue and Vustoms to handle third-party whistleblowing on breaches of the national minimum wage.
“The government is committed to the effective enforcement. We will consider these options in full.”
The announcement comes just five months after FE Week reported last October that apprentices were today benefiting from a 20 per cent boost to their National Minimum Wage to £3.30 an-hour.
Mr Javid said that the time that the inflation-busting increase, from the old £2.73-an-hour rate, was “the largest in history, making sure that apprenticeships remain an attractive option for young people”.
It came as the adult national minimum wage rate increased at that time from £6.50 to £6.70.
for someone with a girlfriend, wife, family or a expense of some sort. £3.30 simply isn’t enough for the average joe. its hard to make some ends meet with such a low salary. something needed to be addressed, in order to make apprenticeships more appealing for more different other kind of people looking to learn and work and to become qualified in a profession or a place of work.