Ask the expert

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Your legal questions are answered by Christine Betts, senior lawyer, schools and childcare team, Veale Wasbrough Lawyers Q. We recently had an unexpected visit from a National Minimum Wage inspector who went through our accounts back to 2001 to check that we had always paid our staff at least the legal minimum. We had! We were shocked, however, when the inspector argued that we should also be paying students on placements the minimum wage. We argued that they were still learning, not really doing a full job, and so not entitled to the NMW. He seemed to accept this argument reluctantly, but who is right? A. The basic starting point is that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) applies to all workers. As from 1 October 2004 the NMW is 4.85 per hour for workers over 21, though that is set to rise to Pounds 5.05 in October 2005 and to 5.35 next year. The rate for workers aged between 18 and 21 is 4.10, but that too will rise next October, to 4.25. For workers under 18 the minimum hourly rate is 3, and the Government has said that there will be no change to this rate next year.