PAYEpeople, a national payroll bureau, has challenged the TUC on their suggested minimum wage rise to £6.14.
Greater Manchester based payroll bureau PAYEpeople has successfully forecast minimum wage rises for the last 10 years using specialist payroll software, providing results that many leading firms now use for their own forecasting.
They publish a report yearly, showing regional minimum wage trends and charting previous and current regional highs and lows rate-wise.
While the TUC are advising a national minimum wage figure of £6.14, PAYEpeople predict a figure of £6.04 is more likely.*
Allan Pearson, Director of Bureau Services and HR at PAYEpeople, says a higher rise would have significant implications on all businesses, particularly those in Eastern England.
“This year, the national average wage has risen by 2.4% since the same time last year. However businesses in the East of England only increased their wage rates by 0.3% on average. Last year the average hourly rate for the East of England was £5.92, and this year it has only risen to £5.94.
“If they can only accommodate a comparatively small increase of 0.3% in one year then increasing the national minimum wage to £6.14, an increase of 3.25%, may be to big a stretch for some smaller businesses.”
Current Minimum Wage:
21 and over: £5.93
18-20 year olds: £4.92
16-17 year olds: £3.64
From October 2010
(Please note that the age for the higher national minimum wage rate has been lowered from 22 to 21)
PAYEpeople is an outsourced payroll services provider with over 25 years experience in providing bespoke payroll solutions to SME’s throughout the UK. PAYEpeople has helped national companies save as much as 20% of their processing costs.
Contact PAYEpeople
tel: 01942 811767
email: info@payepeople.co.uk
web: http://www.payepeople.co.uk
*For full details of the TUC press release, please visit: http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-18731-f0.cfm
