Frances O'Grady

In a report published earlier this week, the TUC detailed the path to a £15 minimum wage and called on the government to work with the Low Pay Commission (LPC) to deliver it as soon as possible, over time.

According to the union body, to get to a £15 minimum wage the government needs to end the longest, harshest squeeze on UK living standards and deliver workers their fair share of the wealth they create. It added that the government must set a new minimum wage target at 75 per cent of median hourly pay and return the UK to “normal wage growth”.

The current minimum wage for those 23 and over is £9.50 – with lower rates for those who are younger. The TUC is calling for all workers – regardless of age – to be eligible for the same minimum wage, removing the current lower rates for young workers. The union body says this should be done alongside progress towards a £15 minimum wage.

After years of declining living standards and with the country set for the worst wage growth in the G7, the union body says “it’s time the UK led the world on pay”. 

With families facing “a desperate autumn and worse winter”, as part of its package of measures to deal with the cost of living crisis, the TUC is calling for the minimum wage uprating to be brought forward to October – and increased at least by inflation – as opposed to April next year when the uprating was due.

Since the minimum wage was first introduced, its level as a proportion of the median wage has increased over time – starting at 47% in 1999 and now heading to 66% by 2024.

With the 66%  target looking “almost certain” to be achieved, the TUC says a more ambitious target of 75% is a “logical next step”. The union body says the LPC should be tasked with charting the exact path to £15 – adding that the model provides “a safe mechanism” for establishing evidence around how high we can push the minimum wage.

Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “Every worker should be able to afford a decent standard of living. But millions of low-paid workers live wage packet to wage packet, struggling to get by – and they are now being pushed to the brink by eye-watering bills and soaring prices.

“For too long workers have been told that businesses can’t afford to pay them more. But again and again the evidence has shown that firms are still making profits and increasing jobs – we can afford higher wages. And higher wages are good for the economy – more money in the pockets of working people means more spend on our high streets.

“It’s time to put an end to low-pay Britain. Let’s get wages rising in every corner of the country and get on the pathway to a £15 per hour minimum wage.”

On the need for a real plan for a high wage economy, she added: “Ministers promised a high wage economy time and time again, but they need a real plan to deliver it – not just a convenient political slogan.

“After a decade of abject failure by successive Conservative governments to get pay rising, working people face the longest and harshest wage squeeze in modern history. We can’t keep lurching from crisis to crisis. Working families need long-term financial security – that means reversing the destructive trend of standstill wages.

“Ministers should introduce fair pay agreements to get pay and productivity rising in low-paid sectors. They should promote decent work above shareholder interests. And they should invest in good jobs in every corner of the country. That’s how you boost pay packets and put the Britain on a direct path to a £15 minimum wage.”