UK minimum wage

[Conquest10]

Did I read this wrong? Is the UK minimum wage actually £5.35 per hour?

[BJ_M]

National Minimum Wage: An Introduction

An employer must pay their workers a minimum amount as defined by law. This is called the National Minimum wage.

There are three levels of minimum wage, and the rates from 1st October 2006 are:

* £5.35 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older
* A development rate of £4.45 per hour for
o workers aged 18 - 21 years inclusive
* 3.30 per hour which applies to all workers under the age of 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age**.

Development Rate

The development rate for workers age 22 and over was abolished for pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2006. From that date, all workers aged 22 and over who qualify for the national minimum wage will be entitled to the main rate of national minimum wage. This applies even where the worker was previously in receipt of the development rate for those age 22 and over and had been receiving that rate for less than 6 months.
Compulsory School age

In England and Wales: a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the last Friday of June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.
In Scotland: pupils whose 16th birthday falls between 1 March and 30 September may not leave before the 31 May of that year. Pupils aged 16 on or between 1 October and the last day of February may not leave until the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year.

In Northern Ireland: a person is no longer of compulsory school age after the 30th June of the school year in which their 16th birthday occurs.
Apprentices

From pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2006 the special rules for apprentices will be extended to apprentices aged over 25. This will mean that:

* Apprentices under age 19 will not qualify for the national minimum wage
* Apprentices over age 19 and in the first 12 months of their apprenticeship will not qualify for the national minimum wage
Accommodation Offset.

The per day value of the accommodation offset is 4.15 (£29.05 per week) for each day that accommodation is provided.

[rallynavvie]

Comes out to over $9 USD, not bad. But cost of living there is a lot greater than the States too and I don't know if that would quite cover it all.

[Craig Tucker]

Yes, petrol for one.
Mind you my hourly rate sounds much better if I say it in dollars.

[Conquest10]

That comes out to $10.11 US. That's almost double the US minimum wage. Cost of living can't be double what it is here.

I was looking at this site (please correct if any of this is wrong):
http://www.workgateways.com/working-cost-of-living.html

Pint of beer £2.50 - £3
Average meal for two in mid-priced restaurant £40
Movie £7-£10
Club/Pub Entry £5 - £20

Except for the movie, those seem to be the same price as here. Even the movie is not much higher. Here they're about £5. (This is all assuming movie means the theater movie and not a DVD, if it does mean DVD then prices are the same)

Seems South London is the place to be. Rent per month for a single flat-share is £500. That sounds very, very good. Especially considering its the capital. Its about $1000 a month. Have you seen the prices in New York City?

[Craig Tucker]

Those prices are about right, cinema is a bit less, £6.50 here and cheaper before 5pm and all day tuesday (£4)

[rhegedus]

Seems South London is the place to be. Rent per month for a single flat-share is £500. That sounds very, very good. Especially considering its the capital. Its about $1000 a month. Have you seen the prices in New York City?

DON'T EVEN THINK IT!!!

I lived in south London for a couple of years - there are some nice parts like West Dulwich, but you have to travel through complete shitholes like Brixton and Peckham to get there.

Streetcrime is the norm.....

p.s. I doubt you'll get much more than a box room with shared kitchen and bathroom for £500. Even students in halls pay more!

[rallynavvie]

Streetcrime is the norm.....

How bad can it be? Here any wacko can own a handgun or certainly get their hands on one. Little tougher to run away from a bullet than it is from a knife. I'm sure there are criminals there with handguns, but it can't be anywhere near as many as there are here. That can also make you a target in your own car or home.

[waheed]

Theres one cost none of you have taken into consideration:

HIGH TAXES ! ! ! !

[RottenFoxBreath]

plenty wackos going about over here,thats for sure,and plenty of gun crime too..
mind you,some of the real "hard men" over here still prefer the good ol' up close and personal knifes,bats and fists.
and yeh high taxes..tell me about it..VAT-value added tax..17.5%...******* nightmare.
and tv licenses....ffs...a prehistoric tax if ever there was one..

[rallynavvie]

Yeah, I do love how you have to pay for OTA television.

I looked at a temporary position with the company over there but only because I loved living there (you have the most wonderful selection of cars) but also because the company paid almost every cost of living expense in addition to my normal paycheck. Basically be like making a good income but then not having to pay rent, gas, food, utilities, and so forth. But that, or a substantial raise that would be an equivalent to that, would be the only way I'd try moving out there.

[Cobra]

My first job paid £3.11/hour with a supermarket, and I worked damn hard for that money. I'm watching 24 on a TV I bought with my wages right now - 70 hours worth of work it took me to earn that TV, and I remember that every time I use it. Nothing like good, honest work!

I earn £5.50/hour just now, but I'm trying for a job that should pay about £25,000/year just now - it's as a forensic scientist.

[ZAPPER]

What was that saying? "Minimum wage is my way of saying I would pay you less, but the government won't let me."


It is all a matter of living within your means (Boy, don't that suck)

When I was young and making $9 an hour I had more free time and cash to blow. Now I work way too much, spend another four hours a day in traffic, catch hell from the boss, catch hell from the ole lady, maintain the homestead, support the government (no complaint about the government, just the idiots that are on its payroll)..... Oh please! Let me hit the lotto! Even a little one would be nice.

[rhegedus]

Streetcrime is the norm.....

How bad can it be? Here any wacko can own a handgun or certainly get their hands on one. Little tougher to run away from a bullet than it is from a knife. I'm sure there are criminals there with handguns, but it can't be anywhere near as many as there are here. That can also make you a target in your own car or home.

And, is if by magic..........

Two teenagers shot in McDonald's

Two teenagers have been shot in front of families with young children in a McDonald's restaurant.

The friends, both believed to be 17, were in the queue on Thursday afternoon when a gunman shot one in the chest and the other in the arm.

The victim hit in the chest is said to be in a critical condition and the other youth is described as stable.

The Met's Operation Trident team is investigating the incident which happened in Brixton, south London.

Violent attack

Detective Constable Luis Martinez from Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime in London's black community, said: "The venue was very busy at the time of the shooting and those present - including families with young children - were shocked and terrified by this violent attack.

"We have only a brief description of the gunman at present - he was black and approximately 6ft 1in tall - but if anyone saw the incident or the suspect making off, we need to hear from you."

Police said the suspect ran down nearby Rushcroft Road and into Saltoun Road, heading towards Railton Road.

Soooooooo glad I left

[rallynavvie]

Can I start posting shootings from my local paper to compare?

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just a bit less frequent there. And of course now most people can apply to carry their own handgun for protection so now you can even get shot accidentally by someone "defending themselves"

[Conquest10]

rallynavvie's right. Happens all the time over here. At least two murders everyday in this city alone. You can imagine how many are shot and live. Just two days ago you had that maniac in Colorado that held up in a school raping girls and killed one before killing himself.

[rhegedus]

Oh, I don't doubt that - I'm just saying that living South London isn't worth the false economy of saving of a few 'quid'.