News
UK minimum wage to rise to £9.50, the Treasury has confirmed
The minimum hourly rate is set to increase from £8.91 to £9.50 in 2021 - a rise of 53p per hour.
The Treasury has confirmed plans to hike the minimum wage to £9.50 an hour for adults aged 23 and over to the BBC today.
The move will officially be announced by the Chancellor as part of his Autumn budget statement on Wednesday 27 October, following months of promises and speculation.
At the top end, this means that the minimum wage for adults 23 is now set to rise by 59p per hour.
Workers aged 21-22, meanwhile, are currently paid £8.35 but as part of the new increases, their hourly rate will go up to £9.18. However, 16-17 year olds will only see an increase of 19p whilst for 18-20 year olds the minimum mandated hourly rate will go up by just 27p.
And at the bottom end of the scale, apprentices – who are currently paid just under half of the top minimum wage benchmark – will see their hourly rate increase by 51p per hour.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said when announcing the increase: “This is a government that is on the side of working people. This wage boost ensures we’re making work pay and keeps us on track to meet our target to end low pay by the end of this Parliament.”
Labour, meanwhile, is calling for a minimum wage rise of £10 – despite its unions and members calling for it to increase to £15 an hour.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the treasury, said: “This underwhelming offer works out at £1,000 a year less than Labour’s existing plans for a minimum wage of at least £10 per hour for people working full-time.
“Much of it will be swallowed up by the Government’s tax rises, universal credit cuts and failure to get a grip on energy bills.
“It’s clear that Labour is the only party serious about improving the prospects of working people.”
The national minimum wage, also sometimes known as the national living wage, is set by the Westminster government and functions to tell employers the minimum hourly rate that they can legally pay employees aged over 23.
There is also something called the real living wage, which is a voluntary rate of pay employers can choose to give their staff.
More to follow.
Featured Image – GoSimpleTax via Flickr
News
Manchester man jailed after sexually assaulting and masturbating in front of woman on train
Emily Sergeant
A man has been jailed after sexually assaulting and masturbating in front of a woman on board a train to Manchester.
Following an extensive British Transport Police (BTP) investigation, Nisan Fernando Kurukulasuriya, of Troutbeck Road in Altrincham, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court last month.
At the trail last month, the court heard how, on Monday 20 April 2026, 39-year-old Kurukulasuriya was on a train from Stoke to Manchester and sat next to a woman he didn’t know, who was on the phone.
He then sexually assaulted her repeatedly, doing so again even after being pushed away by the woman.
The woman then noticed that Kurukulasuriya had exposed himself and was masturbating in front of her. She shouted at him, and in response, he stood up and ran away to leave the train – but the woman immediately got up to report the incident to staff.
When the train arrived at Manchester Piccadilly, the woman alerted a member of staff while Kurukulasuriya was stood only a few meters away, and BTP were subsequently called straight away.
Police quickly attended and arrested Kurukulasuriya.
When police interviewed him, Kurukulasuriya showed no remorse for his actions and refused to answer any questions put to him.
After pleading guilty to Sexual Assault and Outraging Public Decency at a previous court hearing, Kurukulasuriya was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, and was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which will bar him from sitting next to any woman he doesn’t know on public transport, as well as being put on thensex offenders register for 10 years.
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BTP Detective Sergeant, Mark Haviland, called Kurukulasuriya a ‘despicable man’ who targeted a woman travelling alone ‘for his own sick sexual gratification’.
Featured Image – BTP
News
GMP officer sentenced after hitting pedestrian during police chase in Rochdale
Emily Sergeant
A police officer has been sentenced this week after he struck and ‘seriously injured’ a pedestrian following a pursuit of a suspected drink driver in Rochdale.
35-year-old Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer PC Sam Lockley pleaded guilty back in January 2026 following an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation.
The IOPC investigation established that, in the early hours of the morning on 19 November 2023, PC Lockley was driving a marked police vehicle with the lights and sirens activated, and attempted to stop a suspected drunk driver on Drake Street in Rochdale.
A short pursuit that commenced but stopped merely a minute later after the police vehicle collided with a pedestrian on the footpath of Rochdale Road at approximately 3:30am.
The evidence gathered indicated that PC Lockley failed to slow down as he approached and drove through the red traffic lights at the Kingsway junction, and was travelling at a speed of 96mph in a 30mph zone.
The pedestrian suffered ‘serious injuries’ as a result of the collision, and received extensive medical treatment following.
At a hearing back in February of this year, PC Lockley received a two-year suspended sentence and was ordered to carry out 15 days community service, while also receiving two-year driving disqualification.
Also following the investigation, the IOPC decided that Lockley should face a gross misconduct hearing to face allegations that his manner of driving breached the police standards of professional behaviour.
“We continue to liaise with the force about disciplinary proceedings,” the IOPC concluded.
IOPC Director Amanda Rowe added: “My sympathies remain with the man, who sustained serious injuries, and all those affected by the incident.
“This was a complex investigation which relied on extensive amounts of data and expert analysis and the evidence showed PC Lockley drove at excessive speeds at night-time and although he was responding to a report of a suspected drink driver, it does not excuse his manner of driving.
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“PC Lockley admitted he drove in a dangerous manner when he didn’t address hazards or warnings during the pursuit and ultimately by the time he saw the pedestrian, he was travelling too fast to avoid a collision.
“His actions that day have had long-lasting consequences and he has now been held accountable.”
Featured Image – Rawpixel
Georgina Pellant -
25th October 2021 
