Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the age limit for a Lifetime ISA, in the context of people saving to buy a home.
Answered by Richard Fuller - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Lifetime ISA (LISA) was designed as a long-term savings product intended to support younger people saving for their first home, or for later life. Since April 2017, adults under 40 have been able to open a LISA and save up to £4,000 each year until they reach 50. The government provides a 25% bonus on all LISA contributions within these limits.
The government considers that those over the age of 40 are less likely to be first time buyers, and the Government's consultation on pensions tax relief in 2015 showed that younger people were in particular need of alternative support to save.
However, individuals aged 40 or over who have not previously opened a LISA are still able to save into another ISA type, benefitting from the annual subscription limit to £20,000.
The Government has no current plans to amend the terms of the LISA but keeps all aspects of savings tax policy under review.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that workers are adequately remunerated in the context of the recent increase in the cost of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
On 1 April 2022, the Government increased the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23+. This helps keeps us on track to meet our target to end low pay by 2024-25.
The April 2022 increase in the National Living Wage represents an increase of over £1,000 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage and is expected to benefit over 2 million workers.
We are also delivering a significant tax cut for low-income families by reducing the Universal Credit taper rate from 63p to 55p, and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 p.a. This is essentially a tax cut for the lowest paid in society worth £2.2bn next year and means that around 2m families will save an extra £1,000 a year on average.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to (a) mitigate and (b) tackle the impact on people's personal finances of the recent increase in the cost of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Millions of households across the UK are struggling to make their incomes stretch to cover the rising cost of living. The government is providing over £15bn of additional support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package builds on the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.
The government is helping all domestic electricity customers in Great Britain to cope with the impact of higher energy bills, with £400 off their bills from October through the expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS). This is a doubling of the £200 of support announced in February, and there will no longer be any repayments. The government will deliver equivalent support to people in Northern Ireland.
The government is supporting over 8 million households across the UK in receipt of means tested benefits with a one-off Cost of Living Payment of £650, paid in two instalments.
The government is giving additional UK-wide support to help disabled people with the particular extra costs they will face, with 6 million people who receive non-means tested disability benefits receiving a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150.
The government is also providing extra support to help all pensioners across the UK stay warm this winter. Over eight million pensioner households will receive an extra one-off £300 this year to help them cover the rising cost of energy this winter.
For households that are not eligible for Cost of Living Payments or for families that still need additional support; the government is providing an extra £500 million of local support, via the Household Support Fund. The Fund will be extended from this October to March 2023, bringing total funding for the scheme to £1.5 billion.
Millions of the most vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living.
The government is also committed to tackling the underlying, long-term factors driving cost of living challenges. This includes: helping people into work and supporting them to keep more of what they earn; solidifying our supply chains and boosting our energy security; and driving economic growth through a lower tax, dynamic market economy.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the national debt; and what assessment he has made of the potential implications for the economy of the size of the national debt.
Answered by John Glen
Thanks to responsible decisions taken by this Government, the public finances are back on a sustainable path, with debt on track to fall from 2022-23 and decrease to 83.1% of GDP by the end of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) March 2022 forecast. High debt leaves the UK’s public finances vulnerable to shocks. It is important to rebuild fiscal space in order to safeguard against future threats and allow the Government to support the economy as and when it is needed. The Government aims to achieve a falling trajectory for debt given this heightened level of risk, as well as evidence suggesting debt trajectories are important to macroeconomic performance.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to mitigate the impact of a potential rise in inflation to 11 per cent, as forecast by the Bank of England.
Answered by John Glen
The Government recognises the impact that high inflation has on households and has taken significant action to support all families. The Government is providing over £15bn of additional support, building on the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.
The Government has the tools and resolve to reduce inflation through three tools – independent monetary policy, fiscal responsibility and supply side reform. Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. Historically, the MPC have met the inflation target and inflation has averaged exactly 2% since independence. The Government retains full confidence in the Bank of England to take the necessary action to get inflation back on target and ensure inflation expectations remain anchored.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of employers with an annual Class 1 National Insurance liability greater than £91,699 and less than £100,000 in the latest tax year for which data are available.
Answered by John Glen
For tax year 2020 to 2021, we estimate there are 4,800 employers with Class 1 National Insurance liabilities greater than £91,699 and less than £100,000. This represents around 0.5% of those who benefitted from the Employment Allowance in the 2020 to 2021 tax year.