Petition · past parliament
Raise minimum wage of 18-20 year olds to that of 21 year olds
Closed
184 signatures
What the petition asks
The current minimum wage for 18-20 year olds in the UK is £5.30. The current minimum wage for 21- 24 year olds is £6.70. This is a huge gap even though the cost of living is exactly the same; the cost of food, rent and bills is not lower - so why is the rate of pay?
For every 40 hours a 21 year old works, an 18 year old has to work an additional 10 hours to earn the same amount of money - this is essentially an extra week's worth of work every month.18-20 year olds are constantly exploited in the workplace because of this. Working for 200 hours pays around £1,060 before tax and national insurance, working for the recommended 160 hours pays around £870. For a whole month this is not enough for an independent person to live off.
Timeline
| 20 Jul 2016 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 20 Jan 2017 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
184
Status
Closed
Opened
20 Jul 2016
Closed
20 Jan 2017
Follow this petition
Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.
Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.