Hospitality glossary · People and retention
The National Living Wage is the statutory minimum hourly rate employers must pay workers at or above a set age, with lower National Minimum Wage rates applying to younger workers and apprentices.
In practice
Definitions are easy. What matters is how the thing behaves in a real operation, and where it tends to go wrong.
The rates change every April, set by government on Low Pay Commission advice, and the qualifying age has come down over time, so check the current figures on gov.uk rather than working from last year's payroll. It is not the same thing as the real Living Wage, a voluntary rate published by the Living Wage Foundation and pitched at the cost of living; employers who advertise themselves as Living Wage accredited mean that one.
Budgeting a rise as the headline increase on the bottom rate only. It also lifts employer National Insurance and pension contributions, compresses the gap between a new starter and a supervisor until the supervisor asks why they bother, and in most operations that differential problem costs more in turnover than the wage rise did in wages.
Questions
Something here that doesn’t match what you’re seeing in your own business? That is usually worth a conversation rather than another article.
The National Living Wage is the statutory minimum hourly rate employers must pay workers at or above a set age, with lower National Minimum Wage rates applying to younger workers and apprentices. The rates change every April, set by government on Low Pay Commission advice, and the qualifying age has come down over time, so check the current figures on gov.uk rather than working from last year's payroll. It is not the same thing as the real Living Wage, a voluntary rate published by the Living Wage Foundation and pitched at the cost of living; employers who advertise themselves as Living Wage accredited mean that one.
Budgeting a rise as the headline increase on the bottom rate only. It also lifts employer National Insurance and pension contributions, compresses the gap between a new starter and a supervisor until the supervisor asks why they bother, and in most operations that differential problem costs more in turnover than the wage rise did in wages.
WHY Hospitality