Welfare Reform on the Web (October 1999): Minimum Wage - UK

IMPLEMENTATING THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE: THE 1999 REGULATIONS

B. Simpson

Industrial Law Journal, vol. 28, 1999, p. 171-182

Analyses the final version of the National Minimum Wage Regulations and the National Minimum Wage Act (Amendment) Regulations. Between them, the Regulations significantly alter the impact of the Act. Firstly, certain groups of workers are excluded from the Act (eg au pairs, family members working in a family business) or have it applied to them in a modified way. Secondly, the definition of working time has been amended, principally by introducing a fourth type of working time, 'salaried hours work'. Finally, the enforcement provisions of the Act have been diluted by relieving the employer of the obligation to provide the employee with a minimum wage statement, and by reducing the record-keeping obligations of the employer.

TURNING THE TIDES OF POVERTY : THE MINIMUM WAGE IN THE SOUTH WEST

Anon.

New Review of the Low Pay Unit, no. 57, 1999, p. 11-13

The minimum wage set at £3.60 per hour will not solve growing pay inequality and in-work poverty in areas like Devon and Cornwall, where the numbers on low pay are substantial, but the numbers gaining from the minimum wage are modest.