The Low Pay Commission is an independent body responsible for providing advice to the Government on the National Minimum Wage (NMW). It was created following the 1997 general election to recommend the initial rates of the NMW and was subsequently placed on a statutory footing by the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Commission produced its First Report in June 1998. Since then, it has, at the request of Government, been reviewing the operation of the National Minimum Wage. Its general role is to report to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the impact of the National Minimum Wage on employment, business competitiveness, and inflation, and to make specific recommendations on those matters referred to it by Ministers. The Commission is currently working on its 2010 report to Government, due to be submitted at the end of February 2010. All the Commission’s previous reports can be viewed on the Commission’s website: www.lowpay.gov.uk.
The 1998 Act requires that the Commission consists of a Chair and eight other members appointed by the Secretary of State. It requires also that there be an appropriate balance between:

• Members with knowledge or experience of, or interest in, trade unions or matters relating to workers generally;
• Members with knowledge or experience of, or interest in, employers’ organisations or matters relating to employers generally;
• Members with other relevant knowledge or experience. (The current members of the Commission who fulfil this criterion have been drawn from academia).

In 2001 the permanent status of the Low Pay Commission was confirmed by Government and the Commission was given a remit for a programme of longer-term research. In carrying out its work, the Commission, supported by a small Secretariat, undertakes a range of activities including:

• External research (commissioned by the Commission and otherwise);
• Evaluating macro and micro economic data;
• Analysing relevant data and actively encouraging the Office of National Statistics to establish better estimates of the incidence of low pay;
• Carrying out surveys of firms in low-paying sectors;
• Consultation with employers, workers and their representatives;
• Taking written and oral evidence from a wide range of organisations, such as employers’ and employees’ representatives, the Government, and those with a specific interest in low pay ; and
• Fact-finding visits throughout the UK to meet employers, employees and representative organisations.

Commissioners

The nine Commissioners are drawn from a range of employee, employer and academic backgrounds. All the Commissioners serve in an individual capacity and not as representatives of the organisations for which they work.

The present Membership of the Commission is: