Employment Update (Employment News, September 2009)

Hourly Rates

From 1 October 2009, the adult minimum wage rate will increase from £5.73 to £5.80 an hour. At the same time the Youth Development Rate will rise from £4.77 to £4.83 an hour and the minimum wage for 16-17 year olds will increase from £3.53 to £3.57 an hour.

Increase in a “week’s pay”

The government has increased the upper limit of a week's pay, with effect from 1 October 2009, from £350 to £380. This figure is used when calculating statutory redundancy pay ("SRP") and basic awards for unfair dismissal, and so increases the maximum value of a SRP to £11,400. 

This increase is both earlier, and larger, than the normal annual increase, and is intended to reflect the increasingly bleak employment market in the current recession.

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