The Living Wage is something that touches all of us at some point, whether it’s a friend, a family member or a work colleague who is struggling on minimum wage. The national minimum wage (NMW) per hour is –
- £7.20 per hour – 25 yrs old and over (the government call this the New National Living Wage)
- £6.95 per hour – 21 – 24 years old
- £5.55 per hour – 18 – 20 years old
- £4 per hour – 16 – 17 year old
- £3.40 for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over who are in the first year of apprenticeship.
Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary, said “GMB welcomes the move towards fairer wages for workers but without the significant extra funding needed in the social care sector, the extra strain will be disastrous.Younger workers, meanwhile, have been ignored yet again due to this government’s refusal to equalise National Minimum Wage rates with the new National Living Wage. It is patently unfair that young people in work face lower wages compared to older workers in the same jobs and GMB will continue to campaign for equal pay for equal work.Perhaps most concerning of all is news of unscrupulous employers like B&Q finding ways of depriving workers of the pay increases they are are entitled to through changes to their terms of employment, in some cases leaving workers even worse off than they were beforeGMB believe in a benefit-free, living wage of £10 per hour and we will continue to campaign for this for all GMB members.”So what can you do to help?We really need to put on about 8k signatures to that petition by Dec 11th, so please encourage people to sign and share the petition on social media – https://t.co/90IifGr3yC .Send an e-mail to enquiries@bis.gov.uk this will go to Greg Clarke, BEIS Secretary of State.
Dear Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Include Young Workers aged 18-24 in the National Living Wage I am writing to you as a young worker to urge you to take action to tackle unequal pay and in-work poverty that faces a generation of young workers in Britain today. As you will be aware, on the 1st April this year the Government brought in a new National Living Wage which legally requires employers to pay workers £7.20 per hour but only for workers aged 25 and over. However this meant that young workers aged 18-24 who do the same work as their over 25 colleagues can be paid between 7% and 26% less for it[1], resulting in a massive disparity in pay which denies young workers the basic right to equal pay for equal work, set out in the Equality Act 2010. Following the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission, the National Minimum Wage rate has been increased slightly this month from £6.70 to £6.95 per hour for workers aged 21-24 and from £5.30 to £5.55 per hour. Despite the small rise in wages this pay inequality continues, with young workers aged 18-24 are still being paid between 3% and 23% less simply because they were born after 1991.[2] Unfortunately, we have even seen young workers under 25 who were previously paid £7.20 per hour having their pay cut to National Minimum Wage level by their employer as a result of the National Living Wage age-minimum being 25 years old.[3] This pay inequality is feeding the crisis of in-work poverty that is increasingly facing Britain’s young workers, and could face many of the 3.3 million young workers that could be affected by these lower wage rates.[4] Many young adult workers under 25 struggle with the same living costs as over 25s, for them low pay is the one thing trapping them in in-work poverty struggling to afford living in a home of their own and look after their kids. This is an issue that affects working people of all ages. Including young workers under 25 in the National Living Wage would not just protect them from in-work poverty but also workers over 25 from discrimination in being hired for a job, as unscrupulous employers could currently be inclined to substitute older workers for the cheaper labour of workers aged under 25.[5] Equal pay makes better work for everyone. Instead of explaining their reasons for the exclusion of under 25s from National Living Wage, previous Senior Government Ministers have sought to add further distress to young workers struggling to make ends meet by publicly justifying this policy on the belief that young workers are somehow “too unproductive” to warrant the higher wage rate, then admitting in Parliament that there is no evidence to support this.[6] It would be really helpful for me to understand your position on why it is young workers should not receive the same rate of pay as their colleagues in the same job? Previous Government ministers have argued that including under 25s in the National Living Wage would be a wage rise that would harm our chances of employment.[7] However when 21 year olds were moved from the Youth Development Rate to the National Minimum Wage Rate in 2010 the Low Pay Commission found no evidence of any negative effects on employment for 21 year olds following the wage rise and that “on the contrary their employment rates, which had been falling, stabilised at around 67 per cent through 2010 until the third quarter of 2011.”[8] We believe that there is no excuse to deny anyone equal pay for equal work simply because of their age. This is also the view shared by the wider general public from across the political spectrum. In a poll by Survation in September last year, 66% of voters stated that they believe the higher National Living Wage rate should also be given to workers under 25, with 55% of Conservative Party supporters, 74% of Labour Party supporters and 69% of UK Independence party voters in favour of extending the living wage to under 25s.[9] By setting the eligibility for the National Living Wage at 25, the UK has the highest threshold for being paid the standard adult rate in the developed world, joined only by Greece.[10] I hope that you take urgent action on this issue to include workers aged 18-24 are in the National Living Wage rate of £7.20 per hour, ensuring equal pay for equal work for all and preventing a generation of young people suffering from in-work poverty. Regards, (name)If you use TwitterTweeting directly to @gregclarkmp and referring to @GMBYoungMembers petition https://t.co/90IifGr3yC and use #livingwage If you would like to print off your own signs for photos or to support the campaign, please find that attached with the letter.
Copy and paste this draft letter or send one of your own –
Posted: 4th November 2016