�°������ϲʹ�������

By Rachel Lawler

 

The National Living Wage will increase from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour in April 2019, the government has confirmed.

 

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the 4.9% increase today as part of the government’s latest Budget.

 

The National Living Wage is the minimum hourly rate that must be paid to workers aged 25 and over. When this increases to £8.21 in April, full-time employees will get a pay rise of around £690 a year.

 

The minimum rate that must be paid to employees aged under 25 – the National Minimum Wage – will also increase in April, as well as the minimum hourly wage for apprentices.

 

The new minimum rates wills be as follows:

Increases to the National Living and National Minimum Wage from April 2019

Age of worker	25+	21-24	18-20	Under 18	Apprentice
Current Level	£7.83	£7.38	£5.90	£4.20	£3.70
From April 2019 onwards	£8.21	£7.70	£6.15	£4.35	£3.90

The Alliance had for the early years sector to be announced as part of the government’s latest spending review, but no further update on the current funding rates was given.

The current Early Years National Funding Formula is due to remain in place until 2020.

"Missed opportunity"

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, called the Budget another “missed opportunity”.

 

He said: “Survey after survey and study after study has shown that there is simply not enough funding in the childcare system. The government's own commissioned evaluation of the 30 hour offer found that the scheme isnot only having a negative effect on many providers' finances, it's also resulting in higher fees and charges for a significant proportion of parents.

 

"How much more evidence does the government need before it finally commits to addressing this issue? How many more pre-schools, nurseries and childminders need to close their doors before someone at the DfE has the courage to say: 'We need to look at this again'?

 

"At a time when the financial pressure on the sector is continuing to rise – especially in light of the planned increase in the 'national living wage' from £7.83 per hour to £8.21 as of April next year – the fact that the government has done nothing to support the sector, and make sure a policy that it chose to introduce is actually viable in the long term, is nothing less than shameful."