Speeches

Caroline Flint – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2015-10-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the reduction in household income arising from net tax and benefit reforms in the Summer Budget 2015 will be made up by an increase in household income arising from the new National Living Wage.

Damian Hinds

The Government is supporting household incomes by introducing a new National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and above from April 2016. The NLW will be introduced at a level of £7.20, 50p more than the current NMW which means a £900 p.a. increase in earnings next year for a full-time worker. By 2020 the NLW is expected to be over £9 an hour, meaning a full-time worker will earn £4,800 more than today.

By 2020 it is expected that the NLW will directly benefit 2¾m workers; while up to 6m could benefit from ripple effect. A number of large employers have already started paying wages at or above the NLW level, these include Ikea, Lidl, and Morrisons.