Poverty

(asked on 7th December 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to prevent families falling into poverty as a result of rising inflation above wage growth.


Answered by
David Rutley Portrait
David Rutley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 10th December 2021

This Government is wholly committed to supporting people on low incomes and we continue to do so through many measures, including through spending over £110 billion in 2021/22 on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 who meet the relevant eligibility conditions.

With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our long-term focus remains on continuing to support people into work and to help those in work to progress out of low pay. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects. We have doubled the number of work coaches to 27,000 to provide people with the tailored support they need to move into work.

Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) the Government protects the lowest paid within our society. The National Living Wage increased by 2.2% to £8.91 from April 2021 - the equivalent of more than £345 extra per year for someone working full-time. At Autumn Budget 2021, we announced a further increase of 6.6% to £9.50 for over 23s from April 2022, as well as reinforcing our commitment for the National Living Wage to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow.

Universal Credit supports people in and out of work and working claimants will now benefit from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%; and the increase in the work allowance by £500 per year means that 1.9m working households will be able to keep substantially more of what they earn. These measures effectively represent a tax cut worth around £2.2bn a year in 2022-23 for the lowest paid in society and will benefit almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average.

We recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country are able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.

To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English LAs.

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