Cautious welcome for £5.52
April 1st 2007 The CSSA gave a cautious welcome to the news that the Minimum Wage would rise from £5.35 per hour to £5.52 per hour in October. Responding to the announcement by the DTI, Andrew Large said: “The CSSA is pleased that the Government has accepted the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations for a 3% increase in the National Minimum Wage from October 2007. We believe that this is a realistic decision bearing in mind the current state of the economy and the lack of data on the impact of the October 2006 increase.
“We note that the Low Pay Commission is concerned that changes to the National Minimum Wage should be based on the latest available data, and we share that view. However, for cleaning contractors on long term contracts, more visibility is needed for future changes so that they can be incorporated into those contracts.” Meanwhile The Transport and General Workers Union called for the London Living Wage of £7.30 to become the new national minimum wage. The union also said the DTI should take a harder line on employers found guilty of not paying the minimum wage as the only ‘penalty’they face is repaying what they have cheated workers out of in the first place. t: 01943 850817 for further info More articles from CSSA: | 
