Press release

Government introduces largest ever increase to apprentices� wages

National Minimum Wage goes up by 57 pence to £3.30 for apprentices and rises by 20 pence to £6.70 per hour for adult workers.

This was published under the 2015 to 2016 Cameron Conservative government
  • over 1 million working people will receive a pay rise today when the National Minimum Wage goes up
  • apprentices get biggest ever rise
  • over £1,000 increase in yearly pay packet for full time apprentices

From Thursday 1 October 2015, the apprentice rate of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) goes up by 57 pence to £3.30 and the NMW rate for adult workers will rise by 20 pence from £6.50 to £6.70 per hour.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp boost for apprentices is the largest ever and means that those working 40 hours a week will now have £1,185 more in their pay packet over the year.

By implementing a rate higher than the Low Pay Commission’s (LPC) recommendation apprenticeships will deliver a wage that is comparable to other choices for work.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp 3% increase in the adult rate is the biggest real increase since 2006 and moves the NMW closer to the average wage than ever before. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp new rate means that a full time employee, working 40 hours, will see the largest cash increase in their annual pay packets since 2008.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

As a one nation government we are making sure that every part of Britain benefits from our growing economy and today more than 1.4 million of Britain’s lowest-paid workers will be getting a well-deserved pay rise.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp increase for apprentices is the largest in history making sure that apprenticeships remain an attractive option for young people. While the National Minimum Wage will see the largest real-terms increase since 2007.

From 1 October 2015:

  • the adult rate will increase by 20 pence to £6.70 per hour
  • the rate for 18 to 20 year olds will increase by 17 pence to £5.30 per hour
  • the rate for 16 to 17 year olds will increase by 8 pence to £3.87 per hour
  • the apprentice rate will increase by 57 pence to £3.30 per hour
  • the accommodation offset increases from the current £5.08 to £5.35

Notes to editors:

  1. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Apprentice Rate applies to all apprentices in year 1 of an apprenticeship, and 16 to 18 year old apprentices in any year of an apprenticeship. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp LPC recommended that the new rate be set at £2.80 but the government has implemented a higher rate of £3.30.
  2. From April 2016, the government will introduce a new mandatory National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 years and above, initially set at £7.20.

Updates to this page

Published 1 October 2015