Managing National Minimum Wage (NMW) Increases with People Inc.: A Practical Case Study

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CASE STUDY

How a South East family zoo managed April minimum wage changes across 220 employees—quickly, accurately, and with a full audit trail using People Inc.

Delivered by PeopleFirstHR — UK HR software implementation & support specialists

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Results at a glance

Identified all affected employees across age bands (including apprentices) in minutes

Produced a cost impact summary by age bracket for budget planning

Applied pay updates at scale using the Pay Review Workflow Wizard (consistent, repeatable, auditable)

Generated and issued pay rise letters via mail merge without manual rework

Reduced admin time and risk during a compliance-critical annual change

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BACKGROUND

Client snapshot

Organisation: Small family zoo

Location: South East England

Headcount: 220 employees

Challenge area: Annual National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage uplift (April changes)

HR priority: Understand cost impact and apply correct increases efficiently and fairly

System used: People Inc. HR

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THE CHALLENGE

April wage increases: high risk, high admin, and no room for error

National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates change every April and apply to most workers of school leaving age and above—including apprentices.

For many organisations, payroll processes the final rate changes. But in practice, HR is often responsible for:

• Identifying who is eligible for an increase (by age band and current hourly rate)
• Modelling the cost impact before changes go live
• Ensuring the right uplift is applied consistently across groups
• Producing communications and maintaining an audit trail

In this case, the zoo needed to quickly identify which of their 220 employees were affected—then apply the correct increase to each group with minimal manual effort.

The 2019 NMW/NLW increases (example)

• 25 and over: £8.21
• 21 to 24: £7.70
• 18 to 20: £6.15
• Under 18: £4.35
• Apprentice: £3.90

The risk was straightforward: misidentifying eligibility or applying the wrong rate creates compliance exposure, employee relations issues, and significant rework.

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THE SOLUTION

Use People Inc. to identify, model, and apply wage increases—end to end

Using People Inc., we configured a repeatable approach that allowed HR to manage the entire uplift process confidently.

What we enabled in People Inc.

• Reports to show affected employees and calculate the total cost impact
• Filters to identify each eligible group by age bracket and current hourly rate
• The Pay Review Workflow Wizard to apply increases consistently across groups
• Pay rise letters generated and issued using mail merge

This turned an annual “spreadsheet-heavy” exercise into a structured workflow that can be reused each year.

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IMPLEMENTATION

Fast, structured, and built for repeatability

The process was implemented in clear steps so the HR team could run it again for future April uplifts.

Step 1: Analyse the cost of the increase

We created reporting that allowed the HR Manager to review:

• The uplift per affected employee, grouped by age bracket
• The total cost impact to the organisation, summarised by bracket

This gave HR a clear view of budget impact and exposure before applying any changes.

Step 2: Identify eligible employees by group (using filters)

Next, we created custom filters to quickly select employees eligible for the increase based on:

• Age band
• Current hourly rate
• Eligibility rules for apprentices where applicable

This removed the need to manually check employee-by-employee and reduced the risk of missing edge cases.

Step 3: Apply pay updates at scale with the Pay Rise Wizard

Once each group was defined, we ran the Pay Rise workflow wizard to apply the correct increase efficiently.

Step 4: Maintain salary history automatically

After updates were applied, People Inc. updated the Salary History screen for each employee—supporting traceability and audit readiness.

Step 5: Send pay rise letters

Finally, once changes were confirmed, we generated letters to affected employees using mail merge, so communications were:

• Consistent
• Timely
• Easy to produce at volume

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IMPACT

Clear visibility, fewer errors, and far less admin during a critical compliance window

With the People Inc. workflow in place, the HR Manager could:

• Quickly understand who was impacted and why
• Model cost impact to support planning and approvals
• Apply changes consistently, in a controlled way
• Produce employee communications without duplicating work
• Keep a clear audit trail of changes via Salary History and workflow actions

Key benefits of managing NMW increases in People Inc.

• Reduced manual processing and spreadsheet dependency
• Lower risk of missed or incorrect increases
• Faster communications to employees
• Repeatable annual process that saves time year after year

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Why PeopleFirstHR for People Inc. support and configuration?

PeopleFirstHR helps UK organisations get more value from their HR systems by configuring workflows, reports, and communications that reduce admin effort and improve compliance outcomes.

If you’re currently managing NMW/NLW changes manually—or want a more reliable, repeatable workflow—we can help you set up the reporting, filters, and pay review process in People Inc.

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Ready to simplify your next minimum wage increase?

Talk to PeopleFirstHR about configuring People Inc. to manage National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage uplifts efficiently.

☎ 0330 223 6180	✉ enquiries@peoplefirsthr.co.uk

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FAQ’s

How do I identify employees affected by National Minimum Wage increases?

The fastest approach is to filter employees by age band and current hourly rate, then run a report to confirm eligibility and quantify the uplift. People Inc. can support this with custom filters and reporting.

Can People Inc. calculate the cost impact of wage increases?

Yes. With the right reports configured, HR can review the uplift per employee and summarise total costs by age bracket—useful for budgeting and approvals.

How do we apply increases consistently across groups?

People Inc.’s Pay Review Workflow Wizard allows HR to apply updates in batches by eligible group, helping ensure consistency and reducing manual errors.

Can we send pay rise letters automatically after the increase is applied?

Yes. Once updates are complete, People Inc. supports letter generation using mail merge, so pay rise communications can be issued quickly and consistently.