What is the current National Living Wage in 2023?

Earlier today (17/11/22), the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made quite a few announcements in his autumn statement.

Most notably, the budget included changes to the national living wage, income tax and more.

In his latest article, Chris Dobbs outlines the proposed changes (including the new rates) and weighs in on the impact these will have for employees, employers and the economy as a whole.

UPDATE: The potential 2024 Minimum & Living Wages have been announced. Find out more here.

What is the National Living Wage?

The National Living Wage is the minimum hourly pay that almost all workers over the age of 23 are entitled to.

What’s the difference between minimum wage and living wage?

The National Minimum Wage is the minimum hourly pay that almost all workers under the age of 23 are entitled to.

How much is the National Living Wage?

Currently, the National Living Wage rate is currently £9.50 per hour.

As announced by the Chancellor, this is set to rise to £10.42 from April 1^st 2023.

This change will raise the pay of an estimated 2 million people aged 23 and over.

Here are all of the National Living and Minimum wage rates from April 2023:

What else was announced in the budget?

In addition to the rise in National Living Wage, some other announcements were made that link to employment.

State pensions

Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the state pension is set to rise by 10.1%, in accordance with September’s inflation rate, from April.

Income Tax

The Income Tax personal allowance threshold will be frozen until 2028.

This will result in millions of people paying more in tax.

Top tax rate threshold

The threshold for the UKs highest earners to pay the top rate of tax is being reduced from £150,000 to £125,140.

What does this mean for employers, employees and the economy?

Chris Dobbs said: “The Chancellor’s autumn statement did not come as a surprise, given that much of the announcements had already been signposted by the government as they look to balance the books. 

There were no announcements made that directly affect employment in the UK, but there may be some indirect consequences going forward as the rises in tax and the cuts in spending take effect.

Unemployment is predicted to rise from the current 3.6% to 4.9% by the end of 2023.  The one piece of good news for low earners is the rise in the National Minimum Wage by 9.7% in April 2023.”

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