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The minimum wage should be increased to £15 an hour as soon as possible to help millions of low-paid workers struggling amid the cost of living crisis according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC)
The current minimum wage for those 23 and over is £9.50 – with lower rates for those who are younger.
The TUC is calling for all workers – regardless of age – to be eligible for the same minimum wage, removing the current lower rates for young workers. The union body says this should be done alongside progress towards a £15 minimum wage.
After years of declining living standards and with the country set for the worst wage growth in the G7.
With families facing ‘a desperate autumn and worse winter’, as part of its package of measures to deal with the cost of living crisis, the TUC is calling for the minimum wage uprating to be brought forward to October – and increased at least by inflation – as opposed to April next year when the uprating was due.
The TUC says a more ambitious minimum wage target set at 75 per cent of median hourly pay is needed to deliver a £15 an hour minimum wage.
Since the minimum wage was first introduced, its level as a proportion of the median wage has increased over time – starting at 47 per cent in 1999 and now heading to 66 per cent by 2024.
With the 66 per cent target looking “almost certain” to be achieved, the TUC says a more ambitious target of 75 per cent is a “logical next step”.
Minimum wage rises have been delivered consistently without increasing unemployment – in fact, in recent years as the minimum wage has been hiked faster than before, the UK has maintained high levels of employment.
The union body says the LPC should be tasked with charting the exact path to £15 – adding that the model provides “a safe mechanism” for establishing evidence around how high we can push the minimum wage.
Each year the LPC makes a recommendation based on prevailing economic conditions, with an eye on achieving the upcoming target.
The commission assesses any risks and can recommend an “emergency brake” if it believes the target needs to be delayed – but the TUC points out that even through the pandemic, this has not proven necessary.
The UK has faced record levels of wage stagnation with workers experiencing the longest and harshest wage squeeze in modern history – what the TUC calls “pay loss of historic proportions”.
The union body says this is because of an “abject failure” by successive Conservative governments to get pay rising.
A key step to delivering a £15 an hour minimum wage and a high wage economy overall is reversing this ‘destructive trend’ and getting the economy back on track to ‘normal levels of wage growth.’
To get to a £15 minimum wage, assuming a new minimum wage target at 75 per cent of the median wage, hourly median pay of approximately £20 an hour would need to be delivered. Median wages are currently £14.85.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said “Every worker should be able to afford a decent standard of living. But millions of low-paid workers live wage packet to wage packet, struggling to get by – and they are now being pushed to the brink by eye-watering bills and soaring prices.”
“For too long workers have been told that businesses can’t afford to pay them more. But again and again the evidence has shown that firms are still making profits and increasing jobs – we can afford higher wages. And higher wages are good for the economy – more money in the pockets of working people means more spend on our high streets.”
“It’s time to put an end to low-pay Britain. Let’s get wages rising in every corner of the country and get on the pathway to a £15 per hour minimum wage.”
