Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to tackle low pay in Northern Ireland.

Mr Ben Wallace

Tackling low pay is part of the Government’s plan to move to a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society.

100,000 low-paid people in Northern Ireland, 13 per cent of the workforce, will directly benefit from the National Living Wage from April next year.

A full-time worker on the current National Minimum Wage will be £1,200 better off as a result.

The Government’s plan is working. Official figures published last week show that weekly earnings for full-time employees in Northern Ireland were up 5.4 per cent over the year. The highest growth rate of all regions in the UK.