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The government says more than a million workers are in line to benefit from a 17p increase to the national minimum wage.

Following recommendations from the low pay commission, workers over 21 can now expect to earn at least £5.52 an hour from October onwards.

People aged between 18 and 21 will earn at least £4.60, a rise of 15 per cent, while the minimum wage for 16 and 17-year-olds has gone up to £3.40 from £3.30.

Announcing the increases today, trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling said that the minimum wage had now risen by 30 per cent more than inflation since being introduced eight years ago, with two million extra jobs being created in the same period.

"Just ten years ago home workers could be paid as little as 35p an hour, cleaners £1.30 an hour and security guards £2.25 an hour. It's bad for families and just plain wrong," he said.

"I am proud of the minimum wage, proud of how it is helping families and proud of the role it plays in the modern economy we are delivering."

But the Trades Union Congress has claimed that the low pay commission "could have been bolder" by keeping the minimum wage increase in line with overall pay rises.

"There is still scope to continue raising the wages of the lowest paid compared to the rest of us without ill effects," said the union's general secretary Brendan Barber.

But Mr Barber insisted that the minimum wage in the UK "remains a big success story".

"We have gone from having no minimum wage to one of the highest in the world," he explained.

Earlier this year new measures came into force that increased the penalties for employers not paying the minimum wage.