UK to fine firms found not paying minimum wage

British prime minister David Cameron said yesterday he would introduce tough fines for company bosses who fail to pay the so-called ‘national living wage’, which will hit £9 (€12.25) an hour by the end of the decade.

The UK’s current minimum wage, for those aged 21 and over, is £6.50 an hour and will rise to £6.70 per hour in October.

Britain’s finance minister, George Osborne, said that, from April 2016, employers will have to pay a ‘national living wage’ of at least £7.20 per hour to over-25s.