Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed that the National Living Wage (NLW) for adults aged 21 and over will rise from £11.44 an hour to £12.21 from April next year, an increase of 6.7 per cent. 

The increase is worth an extra £1,400 per year to eligible adults working full time, said Labour. 

The party also plans to boost the minimum wage for 18-20-year-olds from £8.60 an hour to £10, which will give young people working full time an additional £2,500 a year. 

“This marks the first step towards aligning the National Minimum Wage and National Living wage to create a single adult wage, which would take place over time,” said the Treasury department yesterday (October 29). 

Ms Reeves said: “This government promised a genuine living wage for working people. This pay boost for millions of workers is a significant step towards delivering on that promise.” 

This follows consecutive annual hikes to minimum hourly wages, with the 9.8 per cent increase introduced by former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt from April 2024 described as the “largest ever increase in minimum wage in cash terms” by Mr Hunt’s party – and as a “death blow” to struggling pharmacies by one community pharmacy contractor/

Commenting on the latest NLW announcement, Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said: “The community pharmacy contract negotiations must guarantee that any funding increase for our sector is not offset by the budget proposals including the rise in national minimum wage and employers’ national insurance. 

“The sector can simply not survive otherwise.”

Yesterday, the National Pharmacy Association urged Labour to shield the pharmacy sector from any potential increases to employers’ National Insurance burden, warning Ms Reeves that raising NI bills without the support offered to other public service sectors would be “a kick in the teeth” to the sector and could force more pharmacy closures. 

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds commented: “Good work and fair wages are in the interest of British business as much as British workers. 

“This government is changing people’s lives for the better because we know that investing in the workforce leads to better productivity, better resilience and ultimately a stronger economy primed for growth.” 

Philippa Stroud of the Low Pay Commission, which advises the Government on minimum wage decisions, commented: “The Government have been clear about their ambitions for the National Minimum Wage and its importance in supporting workers’ living standards. 

“At the same time, employers have had to deal with the adult rate rising over 20 per cent in two years, and the challenges that has created alongside other pressures to their cost base.

“It is our job to balance these considerations, ensuring the NLW provides a fair wage for the lowest-paid workers while taking account of economic factors.”