Minimum wage up to £5.80 an hour

Just a quick update..

Cut and pasted from the gov. business link web site.

Almost everyone who legally works in the UK is entitled to receive at least a minimum level of pay. This is called the National Minimum Wage.

The amount is set by law. It goes up on 1st October each year.

From 1st October 2009 the rates are:

*
workers aged 22 and over - £5.80
*
workers aged 18-21 - £4.83
*
workers aged 16-17 - £3.57

Generally you must pay all your workers at least the appropriate minimum wage. This includes home-workers, agency workers, part-time workers, casual workers, pieceworkers and foreign workers. It does not matter how much experience they have.

Sometimes it may not be clear if someone is being paid the minimum wage, for example if they are not clearly paid an agreed amount per hour. But as an employer you must ensure the payments you make to workers are at least equal to the minimum wage for the hours they work.

Not all of the money you pay your worker can be counted towards their minimum wage pay.

Money which cannot be counted includes:

*
additional money over and above basic pay for overtime or shift work
*
allowances (eg for hazardous conditions, or cost of living)
*
reimbursement of expenses incurred in the performance of the job (eg travel)
*
reimbursement of the cost of equipment to do the job (eg uniform, tools)

Money which can be counted includes:

*
basic pay (including tax and NI contributions)
*
bonuses
*
commission

Sometimes people may be paid by the amount of work they do or specific tasks instead of the hours they work. Under the law you must still pay your workers a certain rate if that applies to them.

Replies

Graeme @ BGS November 10, 2009 at 1:02pm

Just a quick update..

Cut and pasted from the gov. business link web site.

Almost everyone who legally works in the UK is entitled to receive at least a minimum level of pay. This is called the National Minimum Wage.

The amount is set by law. It goes up on 1st October each year.

From 1st October 2009 the rates are:

*
workers aged 22 and over - £5.80
*
workers aged 18-21 - £4.83
*
workers aged 16-17 - £3.57

Generally you must pay all your workers at least the appropriate minimum wage. This includes home-workers, agency workers, part-time workers, casual workers, pieceworkers and foreign workers. It does not matter how much experience they have.

Sometimes it may not be clear if someone is being paid the minimum wage, for example if they are not clearly paid an agreed amount per hour. But as an employer you must ensure the payments you make to workers are at least equal to the minimum wage for the hours they work.

Not all of the money you pay your worker can be counted towards their minimum wage pay.

Money which cannot be counted includes:

*
additional money over and above basic pay for overtime or shift work
*
allowances (eg for hazardous conditions, or cost of living)
*
reimbursement of expenses incurred in the performance of the job (eg travel)
*
reimbursement of the cost of equipment to do the job (eg uniform, tools)

Money which can be counted includes:

*
basic pay (including tax and NI contributions)
*
bonuses
*
commission

Sometimes people may be paid by the amount of work they do or specific tasks instead of the hours they work. Under the law you must still pay your workers a certain rate if that applies to them.
pete November 10, 2009 at 7:44pm

BALI canvassed the Yellow Pages to change one of its headings from 'Landscape Gardeners' to 'Landscapers' in order to distance themselves from gardeners, many years ago now, I believe
Lawncare-4u.co.uk November 10, 2009 at 7:53pm

we are all working 'illegally' then if we added up all our time for;

research
paper-work
servicing
mots
waste disposal
quoting
work

?? etc how does this work then ?