Cost of living: Government urged to raise minimum wage to £15 an hour as people ‘pushed to the brink’

The Government has been urged to increase the minimum wage to £15 an hour “as soon as possible”. It comes as the cost of living crisis, soaring inflation, and a summer of significant industrial action mean people are “pushed to the brink” and left raising frustrations over declines in real pay.

Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that workers saw their pay lag behind inflation at a record rate over the three months to June. Real pay, excluding bonuses, increased by 4.7 per cent over the last quarter – April, May and June – but it failed to keep up with rampant inflation, which hit 9.4 per cent in June.

The current minimum wage for workers aged 23 and over is £9.50, with lower rates for younger employees, but with inflation accelerating to a 40-year high last month, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is urging the Government to help working families achieve “long-term financial security”.

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Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, 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.”

Ms O’Grady continued: “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.”

The TUC said the Government must deliver a “plan to strengthen and extend collective bargaining across the economy” to help boost pay for workers. Proposals by the TUC also include corporate governance reforms and a “life-long learning and skills strategy” which are designed to address labour shortages.

It comes as more industrial action has sparked out across the country this week, with port workers at Felixstowe suggesting their current strike action will escalate unless an improved pay offer is made. Postal deliveries are also set to be disrupted due to strikes by Royal Mail workers who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), while journalists at Daily Mirror owner Reach will also strike on Friday (August 26).

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