Liz calls for Government to scrap Minimum Wage age exemptions

11.42.41am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Jul 2003

West Midlands Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne has criticised the Government's consultation exercise on introducing age discrimination legislation into UK law for failing to consider the scrapping of age-discriminatory rules for the National Minimum Wage.

The consultation paper claims that under the terms of the 2000 EU Employment Directive, which sets out the framework by which the UK law must abide by, the Government will be allowed to continue to exempt young people from the full National Minimum Wage.

Current National Minimum Wage legislation allows the Government to set different rates and even exemptions for younger people. The Government currently exempts 16 and 17 year olds from any minimum wage whatsoever, and applies a lower "development rate" to 18-21 year olds.

Liz, who is youth spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament and lead for the Lib Dems on the Employment Directive when it went through Parliament, said:

"The Employment Directive only allows for schemes such as the National Minimum Wage to continue to discriminate against young people if it is in their interests in terms of securing jobs and integrating them into the workforce. This is a moot, and very controversial issue, and the consultation paper should recognise this. Instead it rules out a change in the National Minimum Wage rules out of hand.

"Even the Government's own, notoriously cautious, Low Pay Commission has called for 21 year olds to be entitled to the full minimum rate, and for 16 and 17 year olds to be given some degree of wage protection. Yet the Government has dismissed these proposals out of hand without any justification.

"Relatively few companies bother with setting separate hourly rates for younger employees, and the ones that do tend to be unskilled jobs such as working in McDonalds. Five years on since the National Minimum Wage was introduced, this area is badly in need of a complete review. The current consultation must address this issue."

Liz is writing to Trade and Industry Minister Patricia Hewitt to raise her concerns.