National Minimum Wage

The national minimum wage applies to nearly all workers and sets hourly rates below which pay must not be allowed to fall.
It is an important cornerstone of Government strategy aimed at providing employees with decent minimum standards and fairness in the workplace. It helps business by ensuring companies will be able to compete on the basis of quality of the goods and services they provide and not on low prices based predominantly on low rates of pay.
The rates set are based on the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission. The rates change on 1st October each year.
National Minimum Wage rates from 1 October 2007
Workers aged 22 and over - £5.52 per hour
Workers aged 18-21 - £4.60 per hour
Workers aged 16-17 - £3.40 per hour
Accommodation offset - £4.30 per day (£30.10 per week)
New National Minimum Wage rates from 1 October 2008
Workers aged 22 and over - £5.73 per hour
Workers aged 18-21 - £4.77 per hour
Workers aged 16-17 - £3.53 per hour
Accommodation offset - £4.46 per day (£31.22 per week)
To find out more:
see our revised National Minimum Wage Guide
read our information aimed at workers
view guidance specifically for employers
check www.direct.gov.uk/nmw or www.businesslink.gov.uk/employingpeople.
For free confidential advice about the National Minimum Wage call the National Minimum Wage Helpline on 0845 6000 678. This is also the number to ring if you think you are being underpaid and wish to make a complaint. All complaints about underpayment of the National Minimum Wage are treated in the strictest confidence and callers may remain anonymous if they wish to do so.
Proposed changes to how the National Minimum Wage is enforced are being taken forward by the Employment Bill which is currently going through Parliament. Subject to parliamentary approval, the Government intends the NMW provisions to come into force on 6 April 2009.

Where the UK’s richest people live

Location, location, location. It's the mantra of prime ministers and estate agents alike. If you already own your own home then you would probably like to find yourself in one of the wealthiest areas of the country. If you are hoping to buy your first property then you probably want to avoid them.
But where exactly are the richest areas in the UK and what do people earn there?
There are 48 counties or boroughs in the UK with higher average earnings than anywhere else in the whole of the UK. There are no prizes for guessing that London scores highly here. In fact, London boroughs take eight of the top 10 places in the GMB union’s top-earning boroughs. The City of London comes top with an average salary of £75,587, a whopping 261% of the national average.
Tower Hamlets, no doubt boosted by trendy Wapping and Canary Wharf, comes in second place with average salary of £71,838. This figure then falls fairly sharply to £50,781 in the City of Westminster, £47,123 in Islington, £43,269 in Hammersmith and Fulham and £39.904 in Camden. Windsor and Maidenhead, then Bracknell Forest come next before two more London boroughs - Lambeth and Southwark. But the latter is still raking in 128% of average earnings with £35,984.
The last five areas to enjoy above average earnings are Manchester (£29,032), Hampshire (£28,716), Milton Keynes (£28,605), Oxfordshire (£28,480) and the City of Edinburgh (£28,386).
The 10 areas with the lowest average gross annual earnings are the isle of Wight (£21,325), Powys (£21,249), Torbay (£21,173), East Renfrewshire (£21,150), Ceredigion (£21,085), Rutland (£21,048), Denbighshire (£20,860), Scottish Borders (£20,756), Darlington (£20,550) and Moray where the average salary of £20,447 puts workers at just 72% of the national average.
CJ Brough, a spokesman for Payfinder, which produces similar figures says: “Most people have this idea that people put up with the rat race for the larger salaries, but ultimately look forward to moving to the country where they will be paid less but at the same time have lower living costs. We found that all the areas that had low living costs had low salaries too.”
She believes there is one region which seems to get the balance right - Scotland came third in the Payfinder Wealth Index despite its average salary falling below the UK average.
“Financially, you could say Scotland was an ideal place to live. You're not going to earn the top salary but you have low living costs,” said Mrs Brough.