April Employment Update – National Minimum Wage Rates

Hello and welcome to our March Employment Law Update, a round up of all things employment law this month. Those familiar with employment law and HR will be well aware April is the annual roll out of many changes in employment law. The first of these such changes is the annual amendment of the minimum wage rates. The rates are now indexed-linked to inflation and from the 1^st April 2019, the rates will be:

NMW Band	Old Rates	1^st April 2019 Rates
25+ (National Living Wage)	£7.83	£8.21
21 – 24	£7.38	£7.70
18 – 28	£5.90	£6.15
Under 18	£4.20	£4.35
Apprentices (under 19 OR over 19 in first year of apprenticeship)	£3.70	£3.90

These rates come into force on 1^st April (Monday) so any work done from this date will need to be calculated at the new rates. Every year the government publishes a list of – and fines – employers that don’t pay NMW and many of these employers fall into the trap of not paying the new rates quickly enough.