National Living Wage Changes To Be Phased In
As we highlighted in a recent article, Labour undertook in its new deal plan to make changes to the National Living Wage by making it what it calls a "genuine living wage".
One Rate Across The Board
Under Labour's new deal proposals, one rate would apply across the board, with the age bands removed. Also, the remit of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) would be expanded to factor in the cost of living.
Phased In
Nevertheless, on the 30th July 2024, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, announced that the move towards having one rate across the board for the National Living Wage would be phased in gradually over a period of time. That is, the National Minimum Wage age bands will remain for some time yet
Back in 2019, the then Conservative Government set a target that the National Living wage would be paid to all those aged 21 and over and that it would equate to at least two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. That target was hit on the 1st April 2024.
LPC Remit
In a letter to the LPC, the Government duly updated its remit to factor in the cost of living when setting future rates, and it instructed it to ensure that the rate of the National living Wage does not fall below two-thirds of median earnings.
However, in terms of the target of having one rate for the National Living Wage across the board, no timeframe has been set as to when that will become a reality.
Nevertheless, in terms of the 18-20 year old age band for the National Minimum Wage, the letter to the LPC stated that the rate should be set each year in a manner that "continue[s] to narrow the gap with the National Living Wage, taking steps year by year in order to achieve a single adult rate."
Comment
Commenting upon this, the Principal Economist at the Resolution Foundation, Nye Cominetti, stated: "During the election, Labour pledged to make the minimum wage a genuine living wage. What that means in practice remains unclear, with today’s announcement more of a one-year holding policy. Indeed, the LPC’s new remit is unlikely to produce a different minimum wage in 2025 than would have been reached under the previous Government’s plans."
Cominetti added: "This relative lack of action on minimum wages suggests that the new Government’s initial focus when it comes to improving low-paid work will be through stronger employment rights in areas such as sick pay and zero-hours contracts, and better enforcement of those rights."
Employment Tribunal: Increase In Whistleblowing Cases
The Financial Times has reported that the number of Employment Tribunal cases which included a claim relating to whistleblowing increased by 92% during the 8 years between 2015 and 2023.
Furthermore, according to the whistleblowing charity, Protect, 73% of those that contacted them during 2023, having blown the whistle, said that they had been victimsed for having done so as a result. Moreover, Protect point out further that 23% of whistleblowing stems from the charity sector, and the sector of the economy with the highest rate of whistleblowing was health and social work (30%).
Moreover, Protect report that 41% of those that contacted the charity in 2023 stated that their employer had ignored their whistleblowing disclosure, whilst 15% had been told by their employer that the concern they had raised was invalid.
Commenting upon the increase in whistleblowing cases in the employment tribunal, the National Guardian for the Freedom to Speak Up for NHS England, Dr Jayne Chidgey-Clark, told the Financial Times that: "A case ends up in a tribunal because the internal processes haven’t gone well. It’s obviously gone horribly wrong both for the individual and for the organisation."
