National Minimum Wage Rates

We recommend that the adult minimum wage rate should increase from £5.73 to £5.80 in October 2009 (paragraph 8.75).

We recommend that the Youth Development Rate should increase from £4.77 to £4.83 in October 2009 and that the rate for 16–17 year olds should increase from £3.53 to £3.57 in October 2009 (paragraph 8.78)

21 Year Olds

We recommend again that 21 year olds should be entitled to the adult rate of the National Minimum Wage (paragraph 5.31).

Accommodation Offset

We recommend that the accommodation offset should increase from £4.46 per day to £4.51 per day in October 2009 (paragraph 8.81).

Apprentices

We recommend that a minimum wage for apprentices should be introduced under the National Minimum Wage framework (paragraph 6.87).

We recommend that the Government asks the Low Pay Commission, as part of the work for its 2010 Report, to consider the detailed arrangements for an apprentice minimum wage under the National Minimum Wage framework, and to recommend the rate and arrangements that should replace the existing exemptions, together with the timing for its introduction (paragraph 6.93).

Social Care

We recommend that the commissioning policies of local authorities and the NHS should reflect the actual costs of care, including the National Minimum Wage (paragraph 3.38).

Compliance and Enforcement

We recommend that a ‘name and shame’ policy should be put in place to expose those employers who show wilful disregard for the minimum wage (paragraph 7.21).

We recommend that the Government allocates sufficient resources to HMRC to increase significantly the number of errant employers prosecuted in a criminal court (paragraph 7.41).

We recommend that the Government gives urgent consideration to measures that can be taken to effectively tackle employers in the informal economy (paragraph 7.45).