My annual updated version of the blogs which were posted here in April 2021, November 2022, and November 2023. This now uses the NLW figure of £12.21 an hour, and the changes to employers NI announced in the Budget of 30th October. The content is still the same examination of the questionable claim that the […]
An updated version of the blogs which were posted here in November 2022 and April 2022. This now uses the NLW figure of £11.44 an hour and the 10% employee NI rate, announced in the Autumn Statement of 22nd November. The message is the same. The real winner from the NLW increase is the Treasury. […]
A tweaked version of the blog which was posted here on November 15th. This now uses the NLW figureof £10.42 an hour, announced in the Autumn Statement of 17th November. The differences are small but deserve precision. Another update to my previous postings, looking at the real gains (and for whom) of increases in the […]
The driver for limiting benefits increases, instead of linking them to inflation, appears to be presented as an argument that it’s not fair for working people to receive a 5% pay increase while people on benefits will get around 10%. That seems to be a very simple and easy comparison to make and might appear […]
People know that when their bills arrive, they can either cut their consumption or they can get a higher salary, higher wages, go out there and get that new job – Jake Berry MP. Conservative Party Chairman The ‘fiscal event‘, and its reactions and consequences, are not what I really want to look at in […]
With some very, very boring but pretty important numbers The government has been playing around with the tax and benefit system quite a lot this year. They have increased and decreased rates, tapers, thresholds and other factors with, apparently, wild enthusiasm. All of the announcements have been, predictably, treated as stand-alone elements with those that […]
(With a lot of very, very boring but quite important numbers) This government loves sound bites and bullet points. They can look very impressive. UK minimum wage to rise by four times rate of inflation Employees over 25 will receive a 6.2% pay rise equating to £930 a year for full-time worker National Living Wage […]
The National Living Wage (NLW) is what used to be called the minimum wage for those over 25. It’s the hourly pay rate that employers must pay as a minimum. It tends to be the actual rate that’s paid to many, many people. When it goes up, as it will in April, the gross pay […]