The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is an independent body in the United Kingdom, established in 1997, that advises the government on the National Minimum Wage. It is an advisory

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

of the

Department for Business and Trade The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was established on 7 February 2023 by a February 2023 British cabinet resh ...

(DBT).

History and role

The LPC was established in July 1997 on a non-statutory basis before being confirmed in legislation by the

National Minimum Wage Act 1998 The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (c. 39) creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom.. E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2019) ch 6(1) From 1 April 2025, the minimum wage is £12.21 per hour for people aged 21 and over, £10. ...

. Each year, the LPC advises the government on what rates the different minimum wages in the UK should be, announcing its recommendation six months before it would come into force. It is then up to the government to accept or reject the LPC's recommendations. The government has usually accepted the wage levels advocated by the LPC.

Structure

The LPC consists of nine Low Pay Commissioners who are selected by the DBT. The Commissioners are a mixture of employers,

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ists and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Chairs

* 2009 to 2017 – Sir David Norgrove * 2017 to 2024 (2017 to 2019 as interim chair) – Bryan Sanderson * 2024 to present – Baroness Philippa Stroud

Proposals for reform

In March 2014 the Resolution Foundation issued the report ''More Than A Minimum'' which proposed that the LPC's role should be expanded to include publishing the following: *An indication of its intentions for the minimum wage one year ahead. *Analysis to show which sectors of the economy could afford to pay more than the minimum wage to encourage wage rises. *Advice for government on low pay policy in the same way that the

Office of Budget Responsibility An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

influences

fiscal policy In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection ( taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variab ...

References

External links

*
Catalogue of evidence submitted to the LPC, 1997–1998
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collect ...