Minimum wage to rise to £11.44 an hour

The minimum wage is set to increase by 9.8% to £11.44 an hour, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed in the Autumn Statement.

The National Living Wage, as it is officially known, is currently £10.42 an hour for workers over 23.

It is the largest ever cash increase in the National Living Wage, worth up to £1,800 for a full-time worker, and it will also include 21 and 22-year-olds.

The Chancellor said in the House of Commons: “By next year someone working full time on the National Living Wage will see their real take-home after-tax pay go up not by 25% but by 30% compared to 2010.”

In addition, the government is abolishing Class 2 National Insurance “saving the average self-employed person £192 a year”.