Apprentice minimum wage to rise again in April 2021

The national minimum wage for apprentices will increase next April from £4.15 to £4.30 per hour, the Treasury has announced today. 

The 15p increase equates to a 3.6 per cent rise, and is in line with a recommendation from the Low Pay Commission. 

It comes shortly after prime minister Boris Johnson announced in January that the apprentice minimum wage would rise to £4.15 in 2020. Before then, the rate last rose, from £3.70 to £3.90, at the 2018 Budget.

Aside from the apprentice rate increase, the minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will go from £6.45 per hour to £6.56; and the rate for 16 to 17-year-olds will rise from £4.55 to £4.62. 

The rate for 21 to 22-year-olds will increase from £8.20 to £8.36. 

The national living wage for individuals aged 23 and over has been increased by 2.2 per cent, the government has announced, from £8.72 to £8.91. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak also confirmed today in his spending review statement that the government will “improve the way the apprenticeship system works for business,” partly by applying a two-month extension to its scheme of cash bonuses for hiring apprentices until 31 March 2021. 

Fraser Whieldon

Fraser has been at FE Week for almost three years now and has fallen head over heels for the FE and skills sector because of its inspiring staff and students and how it more often than not changes the lives of those involved. His areas of focus include provider best practice, how FE and skills impact upon social issues such as sustainability and gender identity, college finances, continual professional development, and of course his beloved Movers and Shakers column. He previously worked at a local newspaper in his adopted home of St Albans and has a degree in politics from the University of Kent. Outside of work, he enjoys archery with his dad and planning events for a St Albans-based social group he somehow ended up helping run.

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