Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the levels of pay in each of the last five years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, total average weekly earnings (AWE) increased from £476 to £550 between January 2015 and August 2020. Nominal pay increased by 2.3% in the year to 2016 Q1, 2.2% in the year to 2017 Q1, 2.9% in the year to 2018 Q1, 3.2% in the year to 2019 Q1, and 2.3% in the year to 2020 Q1. Both the public and private sector have experienced increases in AWE since January 2015.

The introduction of the National Living Wage has delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years – the latest increase saw a full-time worker’s annual pay up over £3,680 since its introduction in April 2016. In April 2020 the National Living Wage was increased to £8.72 – the biggest cash increase ever – giving a full-time worker an annual pay rise of £930 this year.