By Brad Young, Money team
On Summer Scholes’s 16th birthday, two days after her mum died, the first thing on her mind was getting a job to keep a roof over her head.
It was 2021, and alongside her studies in Margate, Summer said she worked for £4.62 an hour (the minimum wage for under-18s at the time) just so she and her aunt could pay rent and put food in the fridge.
By the time she was 18, last September, she was spending the summer working 50 hours a week in hospitality for £375, while her colleagues aged 21 were legally entitled to at least £134 more for the same job.
There are three different adult minimum wages in the UK, determined by age. On Monday, the government will reduce this to two, but inequality between those aged 18-20 and those aged 21 and over will remain.
“I strongly disagree with it. As someone who is 19, I see the work that I do and the work that my friends do, and I believe that we work just as hard, if not harder, than some of the people who are older than us,” Summer told the Money blog.
She said she had felt undervalued, adding: “I think it should be based on someone’s work ethic and their ability to do a job.
“I was unable to save for any of my future studies, which is why I’m now at college for an extra couple of years.”
Sky News understands from sources at the Department for Business and Trade that the government believes the pay disparity will encourage businesses to keep younger employees and avoid them being exposed to prolonged unemployment.
But GMB Union officer Ross Holden said the cost of living crisis did not discriminate based on age and