Minimum Wage – UK SMEs Face Admin Burden

This week sees the introduction of the new minimum wage rate which rises 17p to £5.52 an hour for workers over the age of 21. Increases of 16p and 10p are also brought in for workers between the ages of 18-21 and 16-17 respectively.

This change is relatively small and has gone without comment from normally vocal groups representing small businesses. At the beginning of the year, for example, the Federation of Small Businesses warned that:

Inflation-busting increases in the NMW are beginning to hit some small businesses hard.

This week, however, Bibby Financial Services claimed that these changes would continue to pose an administrative headache (as much as a directly financial one) for small firms managing their own payroll.

To add the flurry of administrative changes heralded by October, the statutory minimum holiday entitlement has also increased from the first of the month.  Employees are now entitled to an additional 0.8 weeks of holiday entitlement which now stands at 4.8 weeks.  How do you measure 0.8 weeks, incidentally?