Legislation was laid before Parliament last week confirming that the new National Living Wage and new Minimum Wage rates will take effect from 1 April 2025.
While many businesses are feeling and have expressed concern about the increases, the sight of the legislation suggests that no reprieve is in sight.
As a reminder, the National Living Wage will increase to £12.21 from 1 April. This is a 6.7% increase and will be worth £1,400 a year to an eligible full-time worker.
The National Minimum Wage for 18-20 year olds will increase to £10.00 an hour. For an eligible full-time worker, this will work out to an extra £2,500 a year.
An impact assessment published on the same day the legislation was laid indicates that these increases will put around £1.8 billion into the pockets of workers over the next six years.
While these measures will benefit many workers, you may be concerned about the anticipated cost of this increase causing problems for your business.
If you need help costing out what the increases will cost you and advice on the potential strategies you have to manage these costs, please get in touch and we would be happy to help you!
See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/april-pay-rise-set-to-boost-pockets-of-over-3-million-workers
Unregulated Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) agreements will fall under full FCA regulation from 15 July 2026. For the first time, BNPL lenders will need to meet the same expectations as other consumer-credit providers. With almost 11 million UK adults using BNPL in 2024, according to an FCA survey, this is a significant change.
The government has published the draft secondary legislation for the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is due to go live on 1 January 2027. This is an important development for UK businesses importing affected materials.