Minimum wage rises today

More than a million low-paid employees across the UK will get an extra £14 in their pay packet for a standard 35-hour week, following new national minimum wage rates introduced today.

The hourly rate for adults aged 22 and over has increased from £3.70 to £4.10 an hour, and the youth rate for 18 to 21-year-olds has gone up from £3.20 to £3.50.

Nearly 70% of those in the catering sector who will benefit are women.

Trade and Industry secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "As well as helping the low-paid, the minimum wage is also good news for decent employers as it prevents unscrupulous bosses using poverty wages to undercut their competitors."

A spokesman for the British Hospitality Association said that the rise would have no impact on employers in London and the South-East.

Its impact would be limited to the "relatively few" businesses already hit by foot-and-mouth who would have to hoist up wage costs if they had been paying less before. He said that employers had had a year to plan for the rise.

Working time changes

Changes to working time regulations, removing the qualifying 13-week period for paid leave, will come into force on 25 October. The change means workers will accrue annual paid leave from their first day of employment.

Employment relations minister Alan Johnson said: "The new regulations will allow employers to introduce a system for the taking of leave to accrue during the first year of employment, at the rate of one-twelfth of the annual entitlement per month worked, rounded to the nearest half day.

"It remains the case that employers and workers will be able to agree on arrangements for taking leave, in line with notice periods set by the regulations."