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The national living wage is likely to go above £11 next April, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the Conservative Party conference.

About two million workers aged 23 and over benefit from the living wage, currently worth £10.42 an hour.

From 1 April 2023, the rates are:

The apprentice rate applies to people aged under 19, or people over 19 in the first year of their apprenticeship.

The minimum wage is the same across all parts of the UK.

The government says this would increase the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the national living wage by £1,000.

Minimum wage rates across all age categories are due to be announced later in October.

The retail, care and hospitality sectors account for a large number of minimum-wage jobs, although they are found in many other parts of the economy too.

Any employer not paying the minimum wage can be fined by the UK tax authority, HMRC.

You can also get advice from the Acas website or by calling its helpline on 0300 123 1100.

Companies involved include WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Argos and Lloyds Pharmacy.

WH Smith was the worst offender, having failed to pay more than £1m to more than 17,600 workers.

The rates are decided each year by government, based on the advice of an independent advisory group, the Low Pay Commission.

Its recommendations reflect how many people are in work, what’s happening to earnings and how much people are having to pay for essentials such as food and housing.

People who don’t qualify include:

Those with disabilities or in long-term unemployment who take part in government work programmes are paid fixed amounts at different stages of the scheme, which are less than the minimum wage.

Work done by prisoners is paid at a minimum of £4 a week, while students on work placements of less than a year as a required part of their studies are not entitled to be paid anything.

The law to introduce the minimum wage was passed in 1998 by the Labour government and it came into force the following year.

It started at £3.60 for those 22 and older, and £3 for 18-21 year olds.

Before the minimum wage was introduced, the lowest-paid people consistently saw the slowest growth in their wages.

Before the minimum wage was introduced, there was concern that it would cost jobs, because it was thought employers would compensate for their higher wage bill by hiring fewer people.

But this didn’t turn out to be the case.

There’s no evidence of an overall loss of jobs linked to the minimum wage, and only weak evidence of negative impacts on some groups of workers.

More than 430,000 workers across the UK benefit from the voluntary “Real Living Wage”, which is set by the Living Wage Foundation charity.

It’s above the level of the legal minimum wage, reflecting what the charity thinks people need to earn to cover everyday needs.

There are more than 13,000 Living Wage-accredited employers, including Google, Ikea, Aviva, Nationwide and Burberry.