From Thursday, 1 October 2015 the adult rate of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) will rise by 20p from £6.50 to £6.70 per hour, as recommended by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) in March 2015.

The government rejected the LPC’s recommendation for the apprentice rate. The new apprenticeship rate will be set at £3.30 and represents a rise of 57p, the largest ever increase in the National Minimum Wage for apprentices. By implementing a rate higher than the LPC’s recommendation, the government intends that apprenticeships will deliver a wage that is comparable to other choices for work.

Business Secretary Vince Cable is also planning to launch the National Minimum Wage Accelerator - an online tool which will make it easier to compare rates of pay across regions, sectors and occupations. It will take data from the annual survey of hours and earnings and display information about pay so that people are able to compare wages with others in their sector and region

From 1 October, 2015:

• the adult rate will increase by 20p to £6.70 per hour;
• the rate for 18 to 20 year olds will increase by 17p to £5.30 per hour;
• the rate for 16 to 17 year olds will increase by 8p to £3.87 per hour;
• the apprentice rate will increase by 57p to £3.30 per hour;
• the accommodation offset increases from the current £5.08 to £5.35.

This is the largest real-terms increase in the UK National Minimum Wage since 2007 and more than 1.4 million of Britain’s lowest paid workers are set to benefit.