Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to tackle low pay for women.

Everyone in the UK should have the opportunity to progress and fulfil their potential in employment, to benefit both the individual and the wider economy. Despite accounting for just under half of all employees in the UK, women are more likely to be in low paid work than men.

The Government has an aspiration to end low pay, and next year it will set out the Low Pay Commission’s remit from 2020 onwards.

The National Living Wage (NLW) benefits a higher proportion of women than men. In April 2019, the NLW will increase by 4.9% to £8.21. This is an increase to a full-time minimum wage worker’s annual earnings of over £690, making progress on the government’s objective for the NLW to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020.

We will be publishing a strategy in the Spring on gender equality and economic empowerment that will include consideration of how we can best support low paid women.