Angela Rayner is pressing ahead with plans to raise the minimum wage for 18–20-year-olds to match the adult rate, despite warnings from business groups that the move risks pricing young people out of work.
The Deputy Prime Minister has asked the Low Pay Commission to draw up proposals to scrap the £2-per-hour gap between the current minimum wage for 18–20-year-olds (£10) and those aged 21 and over (£12.21). The policy, backed by trade unions, forms part of Labour’s election pledge to “make low pay a thing of the past” and remove “discriminatory age bands”.
The move is also seen as part of Labour’s strategy to court younger voters amid polling gains by Reform UK. Last month, Rayner also set out plans to lower the voting age to 16 before the next general election.
Industry leaders say the policy risks accelerating youth job losses in sectors already hit by rising employment taxes. Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said hospitality has shed 84,000 jobs in the past six months, partly due to the £25bn employer National Insurance rise introduced last autumn.
“We understand the Government’s objective of fair pay, but you can only have fair pay if you have a job that actually pays,” Nicholls said. “Now is not the time to make big jumps in employment costs.”
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