Labour spends £35k on pub beer mats to boast about minimum wage rise

Telegraph

a day ago

Labour spent more than £35,000 of taxpayer cash on beer mats in pubs advertising the increase to the national minimum wage, a minister has admitted.
The Government sent out promotional material to pubs across the country to tell workers that the minimum wage and national living wage were going up.
Justin Madders, the employment minister, rationalised the £35,580 expense as he said the beer mats offered a 'unique opportunity to engage audiences in a social, high-dwell environment where financial conversations naturally occur'.
The red and pale blue beer mats were government-branded and said: 'Millions got a pay rise.'
'National minimum and living wages went up on 1st April', it added, and displayed a barcode for customers to scan for details on how to 'make sure you're getting paid correctly'.
The employment minister responded to a written question by Richard Holden, the shadow paymaster general, about the cost of the drink mats.
He said: 'The cost to advertise in pubs using beer mats was £35,580, which was approved at official level.'
He confirmed that the advertising push was approved by the Cabinet Office, and came out of the 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign budget of £650,000.
He added: 'The 2024 campaign saw an increase in reach to eligible workers. However, recognition remained low, reinforcing the need for bolder, more engaging formats for the 2025 campaign, which expected to deliver an estimated 3.2 million impressions.
'It offered a unique opportunity to engage audiences in a social, high-dwell environment where financial conversations naturally occur.
'This setting encourages discussion and word-of-mouth sharing about rate changes and offers an effective nudge for audiences to 'check their pay'.'
'We will be ruthless'
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have both pledged a war on waste in Whitehall, with the Government having taken such moves as freezing government credit cards and abolishing NHS England.
The Prime Minister said in October: 'We will also be ruthless in clamping down on government waste, just as we will be ruthless on clamping down on tax avoidance ', emphasising the intention to show so the British people that 'every penny counts'.
He added: 'Every single person in this country had to do that during the cost-of-living crisis and government must be no different.'
The national living wage for those aged 21 and over rose from £11.44 per hour to £12.21 per hour, an increase of 6.7 per cent.
The national minimum wage for those between 18 and 20 went up from £8.60 to £10 per hour, a 16.3 per cent boost.
The Government has also begun to name and shame firms that do not pay their workers the appropriate wages, demanding they pay back what they owe and in some instances a further financial penalty.