Pay rise for apprentices planned
06/10/2014
Vince Cable will today announce plans to raise the apprentice minimum wage by £1.06. The Lib Dem Business Secretary is due to announce the rise at the Liberal Democrats annual conference in Glasgow later, and the move is known to be backed by the Conservatives. If cleared by regulators, it could come into effect by October this year.
According to the government’s website, apprentices at the moment are entitled to a minimum wage of £2.68 per hour if they are aged 16 to 18 or aged over 19 and are in their first year. The new plans will raise the minimum hourly rate to £3.79. The current minimum wage for under 18’s is £3.79, for 18-20 year olds it is £5.13 and for anyone 21 and over it is £6.50.
The Liberal Democrats have also launched an attack on the Conservative over their proposed benefits freeze in their conference, and have backed calls for a review of Universal Credit; reform of the Hardship Fund; changes to the Work Programme; an easing of benefit sanctions and more support for claimants.
Mr Cable said it was "completely unnecessary that low income people will be punished, that the working poor should be punished, to give tax relief to people at the top end of the income scale".
Need financial advice
If you have any personal finance questions related to this news article, then please contact our financial advisers. You can get in touch by asking a question online, calling us on 0800 092 1245, or by arranging a visit.
Share this..
Related stories
March House Price Falls Steepest On Record
While the government and the Council of UK Mortgage Lenders argue over who is to blame and what needs to be done to protect the property market from the credit crunch, a damning report has been released by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. The report shows that almost 4 out of 5 estate agents saw a fall in sale prices in March which is the steepest fall since records began over 30 years...
Read MoreThe UK pound falls for third day in a row
It will come as no surprise to currency dealers to see the UK pound fall for the third in a row with Mervyn King and Ed Balls adding to the doom and gloom surrounding the UK economy. Mervyn King, the Gov of the Bank of England, has suggested that the UK is currently in a deep recession which will see interest rates fall further and further and more and more money pumped into the UK economy. Ed Bal...
Read MoreSummer chaos is set to hit British Airways
After a period of relatively friendly relations with workers and unions, British Airways directors were today issued with confirmation that employees are not willing to take on further job cuts, a pay freeze and the cost saving measures proposed by the company. It has only been days since the company managed to get the agreement of thousands of staff to either work some hours free or switch to par...
Read MoreA third of Brits could not cope with base rate rise
16/01/2015 A new survey from loan.co.uk has shown that a third of Britons don’t think their finances could cope with a rise in the mortgage base rate. Loan.co.uk conducted a study by asking 2,000 people how an increase would impact on their monthly budget. 21% of people said a rise would affect their disposable income quite a lot, and 7% said it would have a significant impact. 22% of peop...
Read MoreRetails Sales Growth In The UK Has Stalled
News that like for like retail sales growth in July fell by 0.9% was something which was not totally unexpected by the market. This latest fall is the fourth in the last five months and is a trend which is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
It is not just the affect of falling sales which is hitting the high street but also the increase in underlying costs. This double...