Autumn Statement – National Living Wage – Lower than expected increase

And for our Autumn Statement – Another thing on the rise is the National Living Wage. As you will probably already know any employee over the age of 25 is entitled to the National Living Wage, which has risen by 30p to £7.50. This is 14p below the predicted 2017 rate of £7.64, meaning the average worker will be worse off by £291.20 next year.

Furthermore, the forecasted living wage growth has been revised from £9.16 by 2020 to £8.61. This is due to a myriad of reasons including Brexit and Hammond’s predecessor, George Osbourne, failing to meet deficit targets. There was also considerable pressure on Hammond from big business to not raise the Living Wage rate at all as many businesses have claimed they could not afford the rise, or would put prices up.