Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-09-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government will take to provide support to small organisations which are not able to pay their staff the national living wage.

Nick Boles

The National Living Wage is part of this Government’s aim to move from a low-wage, high-tax and high-benefits economy to a high-wage, low-tax and low-benefits economy; it ensures that work pays, and reduces reliance on the State topping up wages through the benefits system. As part of this, the Government is cutting taxes and employer NICs in total by over £3bn a year through the Employment Allowance and Corporation Tax.

The Government believes that the new National Living Wage is affordable given the strength of the UK economy and labour market.