Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of people whose earnings are above the living wage.

The Department is introducing the National Living Wage in April 2016, which will be the legal minimum wage for those over 25. It will be set at £7.20 per hour, and the Low Pay Commission will advise on the increases each year towards the ambition that it reaches 60% of median earnings by 2020.

The Office of Budget Responsibility estimates that by 2020 it will benefit 2.7 million workers directly and up to a total of 6 million workers could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The Government also supports those employers who can afford to pay more.