MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE MASKS POOR BUDGET FOR RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY WORKERS
Tuesday 6 October 2026This afternoon’s announcement of Budget 2027 saw those depending on the National Minimum breathe a sigh of relief as the speculation about a postponement of the 79 cent per hour increase proved to be unfounded. However, in many ways this increase – which had been proposed by the Low Pay Commission during the summer – proved to be the highlight of what was a disappointing budget for retail and hospitality workers.
The flipside to the increase in the National Minimum Wage is that workers aged under 20 years of age are still denied the full hourly rate increase as the cursed sub-minimum wage rates are maintained for the foreseeable future. Yet younger workers are still expected to pay for the same rent – if they can find a flat or a house – food bills and mobile phone costs as everybody else. The sub-minimum wage rates are discriminatory and unjustifiable and Mandate will be doubling down on its work to make this a political priority in the period ahead.
The abolition of the sub-minimum wage rates is not the only can that was kicked down the road today. The Government’s commitment to introduce the Living Wage as the National Minimum Wage has also been further postponed beyond 2029. It’s clear to see that lower paid workers are not the workers that this Government has in its mind’s eye.
The single biggest driver of the cost of living pressures being faced by everybody in this society is the massive increase in energy costs. Some small measures have been taken to assist with petrol/diesel prices at the pump as well as the cost of home heating oil. However, there’s little or nothing to address the big increases in electricity and gas prices. Nor has the Government re-thought its approach to the 25% to 30% rise in bus and rail fares on which most retail workers depend. These are things that could and should have been addressed today if tackling the cost of living was really the priority.
Finally, there was a lot of talk in the run-up to the Budget about the tax package to help those who ‘get up early in the morning and work hard’. The truth is that the proposed measures benefit higher earners much more than those on lower and average incomes and the same is true of the proposals to address childcare costs – those who pay the highest fees get the benefits.
All in all, the Budget provides a little respite for workers when what was needed was something much more dramatic and meaningful. A disappointing budget – unfortunately!
