11 May 2026
The results are in for this week’s Quick Poll which considers whether young people and businesses will be affected by the changes to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW).
The following questions were asked:
|
Question |
Answer: Yes |
Answer: No |
|
Q1. Do you think the changes to the NMW/NLW will affect career prospects of young people? |
71.69% |
28.31% |
|
Q2. Will the changes to NMW increase businesses overall labour costs for roles typically filled by young workers? |
94.58% |
5.42% |
|
Q3. Do you agree with the LPC’s longer term direction of narrowing or removing age bands? |
49.39% |
50.61% |
The Low Pay Commission (LPC) and the Labour Government’s intention is to further align the NMW with the NLW to ensure all workers are paid equally for work. However, results suggest that the uplift in the NMW may negatively affect career prospects for those who are younger, and a staggering 94.58% believing it will increase labour costs for businesses for roles that would typically be filled by young workers.
Despite this, roughly half of voters agreed that uplifting the NMW rate is still the right decision. It is certainly a balancing act between increasing rates to help young and low earners with the cost of living and setting the right pace of change to help businesses with ever increasing costs. Great consideration is needed to determine the rate and pace of the increase over the next year and beyond.
Thank you to everyone who has responded. The Policy Team takes into consideration all your views from our Quick Polls, Surveys and Think Tanks, and will ensure these are included within our response to the LPC consultation.
Information provided in this news article may be subject to change. Please make note of the date of publication to ensure that you are viewing up to date information.
