'Real living wage' to rise to £9 an hour - MSE News

Former_MSE_Naomi

Around 180,000 workers employed by firms which offer the 'real living wage' will see their pay increase by 25p an hour, or 30p an hour in London...

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''Real living wage' to rise to £9 an hour'

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motorguy

Great news for workers, although low margin / small businesses are struggling even with NMW...

CakeCrusader

The Government need to pull their fingers out and do something about the shareholders/owners/directors of large businesses creaming off the profits instead of paying their staff a decent wage. I'm all in favour of paying staff enough so they can live, but the problems is that their bosses (not all of them) expect to have the same profits so it's the customer who ends up paying more, and it's the customer who ends up paying for pay rises. If I'm paid an extra £250 a year, that's nice, but if I'm paying out £250+ because businesses are recouping any wage increases by increasing the cost of goods then that's not helpful, it just pushes the cost of living up further.

Comms69

CakeCrusader wrote: »

The Government need to pull their fingers out and do something about the shareholders/owners/directors of large businesses creaming off the profits instead of paying their staff a decent wage. - such as what? I'm all in favour of paying staff enough so they can live, but the problems is that their bosses (not all of them) expect to have the same profits - usually it's higher profits. But there's a good reason for that. Investors will go elsewhere if their return drops. so it's the customer who ends up paying more, and it's the customer who ends up paying for pay rises. If I'm paid an extra £250 a year, that's nice, but if I'm paying out £250+ because businesses are recouping any wage increases by increasing the cost of goods then that's not helpful, it just pushes the cost of living up further.

That's how economies grow. You cant dictate what businesses price there products at (with some limitations ofcourse) and you cant dictate how owners (who are taking the risks) spend their profits.

PasturesNew

MSE_Naomi wrote: »

Around 180,000 workers employed by firms which offer the 'real living wage' will see their pay increase by 25p an hour, or 30p an hour in London

Not many then, eh.

Februarycat

Good news for me then as I am paid the Living Wage for my part time job, every bit helps when your on a budget.

rmg1

Potentially slightly off-topic but what happens when the wage rise reduces benefits by more than the pay rise?
For example (I can't remember exact figures so I'll use estimated ones):-
My OH got a pay rise of £1000/year last year.
She claims benefits to help with the cost of childcare (Working Tax Credits, I think) due to low income.
The Working Tax Credits allowance was reduce by £1000.

Most people would say that's fine, it's like for like.
But, unfortunately, it's not.

The £1000 pay-rise was pre-tax so she got less than that in her pay-packet (taking onto account PAYE, NI and pension).
As Working Tax Credits is worked out on pre-tax earnings (according to the Tax Office), she ended up out of pocket by around £200 for the year.

So much for the "pay-rise".

Gavin83

CakeCrusader wrote: »

The Government need to pull their fingers out and do something about the shareholders/owners/directors of large businesses creaming off the profits instead of paying their staff a decent wage.

Why shouldn't they? It's the owners who take the biggest risks and generally put in a hell of a lot of hard work to get their business to a profitable level. One of the big advantages to starting your business is the potential profits, if you start limiting that you'll limit business.

Also wages are exactly where they should be, if they're too low businesses will struggle to fill the positions and they'll have to increase.

CakeCrusader wrote: »

If I'm paid an extra £250 a year, that's nice, but if I'm paying out £250+ because businesses are recouping any wage increases by increasing the cost of goods then that's not helpful, it just pushes the cost of living up further.

And here lies my biggest issue with the NMW and the living wage for that matter. Salaries increase, prices increase and ultimately those at the bottom are no better off. It just pushes more people into that bottom bracket.

Comms69

rmg1 wrote: »

Potentially slightly off-topic but what happens when the wage rise reduces benefits by more than the pay rise?
For example (I can't remember exact figures so I'll use estimated ones):-
My OH got a pay rise of £1000/year last year.
She claims benefits to help with the cost of childcare (Working Tax Credits, I think) due to low income.
The Working Tax Credits allowance was reduce by £1000.

Most people would say that's fine, it's like for like.
But, unfortunately, it's not.

The £1000 pay-rise was pre-tax so she got less than that in her pay-packet (taking onto account PAYE, NI and pension).
As Working Tax Credits is worked out on pre-tax earnings (according to the Tax Office), she ended up out of pocket by around £200 for the year.

So much for the "pay-rise".

Tax credits aren't reduced £ for £...

rmg1

Comms69 wrote: »

Tax credits aren't reduced £ for £...

In the case of my OH, that's how it turned out.
In fact, she ended up worse off.

Has anyone noticed, cost of living increases so wages increase, but the threshold for benefits doen't seem to move?

Comms69

rmg1 wrote: »

In the case of my OH, that's how it turned out.
In fact, she ended up worse off.

Has anyone noticed, cost of living increases so wages increase, but the threshold for benefits doen't seem to move?

Here's the link: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-credits-and-benefits/tax-credits/how-do-i-calculate-tax-credits


Benefits have been frozen for a long time. yes they need a catch up.