The national minimum wage has always been seen as commendable by some, and unnecessary by others. But 10 years on from its introduction, an IRS survey finds strong support for the statutory pay floor.

Perhaps the current £5.73 per hour adult national minimum wage rate is set too low, as for many organisations their lowest-paid workers are already paid more than this and, subsequently, it has had no impact on their organisation. Others, however, do have workers paid at this level, and feel that the increases set by the Government each year are fair.

The issue of lower rates for under-22-year-olds has caused some debate. Several of our survey respondents feel that if younger workers are doing the same job as older workers they should be paid the same rate.

Other top stories in this issue include:

• UK firms lack confidence in their sales commission plans
• Huge gender pay gap for benefits professionals
• IT professionals hold on to inflation-busting pay increases, for now

Also in this issue we present detailed coverage of three new pay settlements: Friends Provident, the BBC and Severn Trent Water.

IRS is conducting a major survey investigating how organisations manage and award cash bonus and incentive payments. This research is particularly timely in light of the ongoing economic slowdown, and will enable participating organisations to benchmark their practices and experiences in all areas of bonus/incentive provision.

Sheila Attwood
Editor,
Pay and Benefits Bulletin

Pay reports recently added to the site:

Friends Provident: 3.25% increase to paybill

BBC: professional and technical staff receive 2% basic increase

Severn Trent Water: 4.3% basic increase plus £130 lump sum

Pay review update: 6 February 2009

The latest pay review update table contains pay settlements for Corus UK, Home Group, the Independent, the Prison Service, United Utilities, West End theatre agreement and many more.

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Statistics and forecasts

The datafile contains the most recent inflation, earnings and labour market statistics, pay settlement data and inflation and earnings forecasts. Our panel of City and academic forecasters is expecting deflation on the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation for most of 2009, with it falling as low as -2.6% in the third quarter of the year. Pay freezes and lower bonus payments are expected to reign in earnings growth to an average 3.2% in 2009.

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From the blog

Launched and run by the editorial team that produces XpertHR and the IRS e-journals, the Employment Intelligence blog is regularly updated with news, comment and links to the latest employment developments. Recent posts include:

• Budget 2009 could be delayed until April
• IRS hits the airwaves
• It's official: UK in recession
• Pay awards more than four times higher than inflation
• RPI inflation plummets to 0.9%

Today's tip: find reward practice case studies

Are you conducting a major review of pay, benefits or grading at your organisation, and would like to see how other organisations have tackled similar issues? You can view our latest case studies from the pay and benefits homepage to read in detail about other organisations' methods, processes and lessons learned.

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