If you are 23 or over and living in the UK, you are entitled to get the national minimum wage. The national minimum wage is also known by the name of a national living wage.
What is the National Minimum Wage?
In the UK, most of the workers are entitled to get a minimum amount for every working hour according to the law and it is known as minimum wage. The rate of this minimum wage varies and this depends upon the age of an individual as well as the individual being an apprentice.
The workers who are age 23 or they are older than this given age limit must get this minimum wage.
National Minimum Wage Rates 2024-2025:
If we go into the details of the rates of minimum wage within the year 2021-2022, the good news is that the rate per hour will increase in 2022. Yes, you heard it right. According to the law, the minimum wage rate will increase and this increment will be practically implemented from 6th April 2022. The rates vary according to age is as mentioned below:
Age 21 and over: The rate per hour in 2024 is £11.44 and in April 2025 the rate is £12.21
Age 18-20: The rate per hour in 2024 is £8.60 and in April 2025 the rate is £10.00
Age under 18: The rate per hour in 2024 is £6.40 and in April 2025 the rate is £7.55
Apprentice: The rate per hour in 2024 is £6.40 and in April 2025 the rate is £7.55
Moreover, this is to notice that the apprentice can only be entitled to get the minimum national wage rate only if they come under the following conditions:
- They are under 19 years of age.
- Or they are 19 years or more than that while being in the first year of the apprenticeship.
Am I Entitled?
Luckily, it is not very difficult to meet the criteria of eligibility because of the following points:
- All casual workers are entitled to the national minimum wage.
- All part-time workers are included in the list.
- All the temporary workers who are working for a short period are also added to the entitled list.
How to Calculate National Minimum Wage?
If you know that there were certain deductions from your wage for the things that were related to your job, then your employer is bound to minus such payments before they intend to calculate the amount of your national minimum wage. Such payments could be for the following reasons:
- Job needed things but you do not get a refund for these things like equipment, uniform and tools etc.
- The payments that are made for the work travel purpose to visit the worksites, which is for the use and benefit of the employer.
The Bottom Line:
Now that you have developed an understanding of what the national minimum wage is, we can sum up the discussion by saying that the prominent benefit of the minimum wage is that it works to narrow down the difference between the highly-paid and low-paid incomes. The distribution of income will become fairer and it will encourage jobless individuals to join any sort of work in hard times.