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22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime...

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with...

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to...

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of...

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.

4 Mar 2024

The British Book Awards has announced its shortlist for Independent Bookshop of the Year. 

4 Mar 2024

The ACT is happy to confirm the date for Local Bike Shop Day 2024 as Saturday 4 May, the weekend of the early May Bank Holiday.

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April 2019 NLW and NMW rates

Posted on in Business News , Political News

The Low Pay Commission report 2018 has been published providing evidence and rationale behind the recommendations for National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NWM) rates to apply from April 2019.

national living wage 

The Government has set a target to reach 60% of median earning by 2020 for the NLW. The Low Pay Commission's (LPC) remit is to make recommendations that reach the target and to raise pay as high as possible without damaging employment prospects. The recommendations for this year have taken place against various policy changes within the Government, most notably the ongoing Brexit negotiations and the lead up to the UK's exit from the EU in 2019.

The report not only provides recommendations but evaluates the impacts of the NLW until now with findings that suggest that as many as 5 million people benefitted from the increase in April 2018.

The report in acknowledging ACS's research, highlights that certain sectors, including retail, may be disproportionately affected by increase in the NLW. As a means of managing the impact of increased wage rates, convenience retailers are reducing the number of hours that they employ staff for (65%) as well as increasing the number of hours that they work (60%).

Analysis, however, did not find any clear evidence to suggest that the increases in NLW had negatively affected employment and therefore the evidence provided resulted in the LPC recommending that the NLW remain on its paths to 60% of median earnings by 2020, with an increase of 4.9% to £8.21 an hour in April 2019.

Read the Low Pay Commission's full report for 2018 here.

Read the ACS' response to the Low pay Commission report 2018 here.

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