Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to increase the minimum wage in line with inflation.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates are set from the independent and expert advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC). The LPC has representatives from business, employee, and academic communities, and each year produces recommendations to the Government on the NLW and NMW rates.

The Government has accepted the LPC’s recommendations on the rates in full and on 1 April 2022, increased the NLW by 6.6 per cent to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23 plus. This helps to keep the Government on track to meet our target, which will help make significant progress on ending low pay by 2024-25.

The April 2022 increase in the NLW represents an increase of over £1,000 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over 2 million workers.