Low Pay Commission backs 3% rise in minimum wage

So after all the to-ing and fro-ing over whether the minimum wage will get a big fat rise, the Low Pay Commission has recommended that the rate rise by 3 per cent to £6.50 an hour from October 2014. George Osborne had said that he wanted to ‘see an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage’, pointing out at the same time that ‘if, for example, the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation, it would be £7 by 2015/16’ (full quotes and audio here, if you need a reminder). If he did want it to rise to £7 by 2015/16, that would mean a much bigger rise from the LPC next time round, which is possible.

This is a reminder of a problem politicians have encountered in a completely different policy area over the last few weeks: they don’t have much power any more. The Low Pay Commission was created to ‘depoliticise’ the minimum wage, while the Environment Agency was supposed to take the politics out of environmental policy.