The Liberal Vannin party has called for the minimum wage to match the current living wage following the opening of a government consultation into the matter.

The government has calculated the current national living wage to be £11.05 an hour.

The minimum wage in the island was raised by £1.25 an hour, from £8.25 to £9.50 in April of this year, a rise of more than 15%.

A consultation was opened after Enterprise Minister Lawrie Hooper MHK, the leader of the Liberal Vannin party, asked the Minimum Wage Committee to recommend changes that may need to be implemented in April 2023.

Liberal Vannin chair Paul Weatherall said: ‘At our recent public meeting on the cost-of-living crisis, Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson stated that what had been announced to date by government was not enough to help people through the inflationary pressures we expect to see over the coming months and years.’

The government’s current timeline for the minimum wage and the living wage being the same is April 2025 however, Liberal Vannin believes this to be too late.

‘Accelerating the government’s existing commitment to set the Manx living wage as the island’s legal minimum wage, to take effect next April, will significantly help those on low incomes struggling to make ends meet, targeting help to those who need it most.’

This call comes as the Manx Utilities Authority, Manx Care, Public Service Commission and their staff’s unions are in the middle of disputes over pay levels.

Mr Weatherall said: ‘The island’s employers should already be factoring in this change in their business planning and many already accept the Manx Living Wage as the minimum that they should be paying their employees.’

October’s inflation rate, measured by the consumer prices index, stood at 10.1%. Measured by the retail prices index it was 11.7%.