National Minimum Wage - report on the 2015 apprentice rate

24 June 2015

The Government has published a policy paper on their rational for rejecting the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation on the National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices from October 2015.

In February 2015, the Low Pay Commission (LPC) recommended National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates to come into force from 1 October 2015. Following this the Government proposed to depart from the LPC’s recommendation to increase the Apprentice rate by 7p (2.6 %) from £2.73 to £2.80, in favour of increasing the rate by 57 pence to £3.30, the largest ever increase (21%) in the NMW for apprentices.

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has published a report which sets out the evidence and impact of the Government’s decision not to accept the LPC’s recommendation and to increase the Apprentice rate to £3.30.

In line with the National Minimum Wage Act, government is required to lay a report in Parliament outlining why an LPC recommendation has been rejected. Draft NMW regulations will be laid in Parliament to bring these changes into law. Regulations will be debated before coming into force on 1 October 2015. A full impact assessment will be published alongside the draft regulations.

National Minimum Wage rates from 1 October 2015:

  • the adult rate will increase by 20 pence to £6.70 per hour
  • the rate for 18 to 20 year olds will increase by 17 pence to £5.30 per hour
  • the rate for 16 to 17 year olds will increase by 8 pence to £3.87 per hour
  • the apprentice rate will increase by 57 pence to £3.30 per hour
  • the accommodation offset increases from the current £5.08 to £5.35.

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