On Thursday 10th September, I served on a Draft Legislative Committee which met to consider the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2015. This Amendment will see increases in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) across the board, most notably including a 21% increase in the NMW for apprentices. This amendment will increase the Apprentice NMW by 21% to £3.30 – 50p higher than what the LPC recommendation!
The LPC was set up in 1999 to make recommendations on the NMW to the Government. When the LPC makes these recommendations, the Government can either reject the commission’s recommendations, agree with their recommendations or accept the recommendations and make any improvements they feel are necessary.
I welcome the Government’s move to introduce this amendment to increase the Apprentice NMW by 21%, which will go a long way to help to make apprenticeships more attractive, especially to local young people here in Amber Valley. I have long supported the Government’s commitment to apprenticeships, which give young people the chance to earn a salary and gain a qualification whilst gaining valuable workplace skills and experience.
Since 2010, over 4000 local young people have been able to take advantage of the opportunity to learn and earn in the workplace and I welcome this further incentive to make it possible for even more young people to gain the skills they need to get on in life.