The Government has announced the rates of the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) which will come into force from 1 April 2023. Changes to the rates are highlighted in the table below.
The National Living Wage applies to workers aged 23 years and over.
| National Minimum/Living Wage | 2022 rate | 2023 rate | % Nominal increase | Cash increase |
| 23 Year old and over | £9.50 | £10.42 | 9.7% | 92p |
| 21 to 22 Year old | £9.18 | £10.18 | 10.9% | £1 |
| 18 to 20 Year old | £6.83 | £7.49 | 9.7% | 66p |
| Under 18 Years | £4.81 | £5.28 | 9.8% | 47p |
| Apprentice | £4.81 | £5.28 | 9.8% | 47p |
| Accommodation offset | £8.70 | £9.10 | 4.6% | 40p |
Paying the National Minimum/Living Wage can be more complex than just paying your workers the correct rate. These are just a few of the risks and common causes of underpayment:
- deductions and payments for items or expenses that are connected with the job
- unpaid working time for example, team handovers between shifts or time spent passing through security checks on entry and exit
- incorrect use of apprenticeship rates for example, paying the minimum wage apprentice rate when the worker is not a genuine apprentice, or paying the minimum wage apprentice rate before a worker starts their apprenticeship, or after it ends
Further information and guidance is available on calculating the minimum wage.
To help employers get this right, HMRC’s National Minimum Wage team is hosting live webinars throughout March 2023.
You can register below for the webinar ‘National Minimum Wage — how to make sure you’re paying the new rates correctly’, where a panel of experts will be on hand to answer questions. You can register for the webinars here.