Is it Time to Review the Minimum Wage?

A National Minimum Wage (NMW) and a Minimum Wage for Security Guards came into force on 1 April 2021.

Paragraph 125(iii) of the Blue-Ribbon Advisory Committee Report (27/1/21) states that – 

“The national minimum wage should be reviewed in 2022 and every 3 years thereafter."

The NMW was not reviewed in 2022, 2023 or 2024.

In March 2024, the Government announced that the NMW will be reviewed. A video of the announcement is available on YouTube.

Who is Entitled to the National Minimum Wage?

A person must be an employee¹ in order to be entitled to the NMW. Please note that only a Court has the legal authority to determine whether a person is an employee for the purposes of the NMW. The Court (e.g. the Employment Rights Tribunal) must do so as per the 1st Schedule of the Employment Rights Act 2012.

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1. Section 2 of the Minimum Wage Act 2017 (MWA) states that an "employee" has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Employment Rights Act 2012.  The MWA 2017 is silent about other types of jobs or work (e.g. commission-only sales jobs or piecework) - where an employee is not paid according to the number of hours for which they have worked. See section 1.7 Piece Rate Pay of the ILO’s Minimum Wage Policy Guide.