Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to ask the pay review bodies to prioritise tackling poverty and low wages in their recommendations.

The government is providing over £15bn of additional support, to address global inflationary pressures, 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 totaling over £37bn this year.

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.

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.

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.

On 1 April 2022, the Government increased the National Living Wage (NLW) by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23+. This helps keeps us on track to meet our target, which will help make significant progress on ending low pay by 2024-25.

The April 2022 increase in the NLW 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.

Pay for most frontline workforces – including nurses, teachers, armed forces and police officers - is set through an independent Pay Review Body process. The Pay Review Bodies will consider a range of evidence when forming their recommendations.

Spending Review 2021 confirmed that public sector workers will see pay rises across the whole Spending Review period (22/23-24/25).