• National living wage for over 25s to rise from £7.20 an hour to £7.50 from April 
  • Measure due to be announced in Autumn Statement later today
  • BRC pushes for movement on business rates

The national living wage will be increased to £7.50 an hour from next April, the Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce today.

In his Autumn Statement, Hammond will reveal the first increase in the so-called living wage, since it was unveiled by his predecessor George Osborne last year.

Since April this year, businesses have been required to pay over 25s a minimum of £7.20 an hour.

The living wage is expected to rise to about £9 an hour by 2020.

Meanwhile, the BRC has urged the Government to bring in early its shake-up of business rates, announced in March’s Budget.

The new system means annual increases will be based on the CPI, but will not take effect until 2020.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said:  “Amid the prevailing economic uncertainty, it’s important that the Government does all that it can to incentivise businesses to invest today and not tomorrow.

“What better place to start than by pressing ahead with reforms to the business rates system, bringing forward the indexation to CPI and introducing over time a lower flat rate so that rates properly rise and fall in relation to property values?”

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