Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Government public awareness campaign entitled Millions got a pay rise, what is the total budget for the communications campaign, and over what period; what communications channels have been used; what external agencies have been contracted; and what was the process by which the communications campaign was signed off under communications spending controls.

The 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign ran from 1 April to 31 May 2025 with a total budget of £650,000. The objective was to ensure workers understood their new pay entitlement to prevent underpayment. The agencies Pablo Unlimited, Wavemaker and OMD were used to support the delivery of this campaign. This campaign was approved under Cabinet Office’s advertising, marketing and communications spending controls. Communication channels used were:

• Online digital display advertising
• Digital online video (YouTube)
• Social media (Snapchat, Meta - Facebook/Instagram, Reddit)
• Radio
• Out of home advertising: Train card panels in national rail/bus interiors, beermats in 1000 pubs and digital screens in gyms
• Paid search (Google)
• Use of six digital influencers (Instagram/TikTok)

The Department for Business and Trade has not run any paid campaign on the national minimum wage and national living wage in 2026.