New minimum wage of £1.73 a disgrace

Commenting on the publication today of the Welfare Reform Bill, the Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, Kate Green, said:

“The ‘work for your benefit’ clause is a disgrace. It will mean an effective wage of just £1.73 an hour for up to 6 months.

“British people believe in a fair day’s pay for an honest day’s work. If the Government can find temporary work for an unemployed person, they should give them a wage too.

“We support moves to provide high quality tailored support to people without work and believe this should be an entitlement on the face of the bill. But it is completely out of step with the Government’s stated aims on child poverty and social mobility to force people to work without a wage. “

On scrapping income support, she said:

“The bill does not say how or when income support will be scrapped, or what will replace it. It just gives the Government powers to do it whenever they want, for whatever reason they want, without having to go through the democratic process of passing a bill. This is an abuse of legislative powers and shows as little regard for parliament as it does for the families who rely on income support and want democratic accountability."

On the link with the recession, she said:

“In the current economic climate we urgently need fiscal stimulus to support poor families. Harsh sanctions are surely more appropriate for the architects of the recession, not its victims.”

Notes for editors

• The current minimum wage is £5.73 an hour (for workers 22 years and older). The “work for benefit pilots” will provide a loophole around the minimum wage that will allow some people to be forced into work at an effective rate of £1.73 an hour (the current £60.50 unemployment rate expressed as an hourly rate for a 35 hour week).
• CPAG is the leading charity campaigning for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children.
• CPAG is one of over 130 member organisations of the Campaign to End Child Poverty, campaigning for public and political commitment to ensure the goals of halving child poverty by 2010 and ending child poverty by 2020 are met.

For further information please contact:
Tim Nichols
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
tnichols@cpag.org.uk