Political Opinion: Labour is taking action on the cost of living
This month, people across the country will begin to benefit from a range of measures the Labour Government are taking to ease cost of living pressures.
From April 1, for many people, changes came into force which will see wages go up, bills come down and more support available to those who need it most.
The National Living Wage has risen to £12.71 an hour, which will mean a boost of £900 a year for full-time workers.
The National Minimum Wage will also rise for young workers to £10.85 giving a £1,500 boost to the incomes of full-time workers aged 18 to 20.
An estimated 2.4m workers will benefit from these rises, including around 240,000 workers here in the East Midlands.
To support pensioners, I welcome that, thanks to the triple lock, the State Pension is increasing by 4.8 per cent.
All pensioners with incomes up to £35,000, as well as those on pension credit and income-related benefits, are eligible for the winter fuel payment.
The payment is made automatically, so no-one needs to take any action to receive it.
More widely on energy bills, the Labour Government’s choice to remove levies until the end of June, means that energy bills are being cut by £117 a year on average from what they would have been otherwise.
Further, as part of the new Crisis and Resilience Fund, the Government is delivering a £53m package to support vulnerable households exposed to rises in the price of heating oil.
The Government is also extending the fuel duty cut until September, which will save the average motorist more than £90.
These measures come on top of the £150 warm homes discount that 160,000 families in the East Midlands and six million families nationally will have benefitted from this winter and will continue to do so every winter for the rest of this decade.
This month, the Employment Rights Act will also begin to come into force, introducing transformational measures benefitting more than 18m working people.
The Act means workers will have day one rights to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, strengthened statutory sick pay, and stronger protections for whistleblowers of sexual harassment.
Furthermore, we are delivering on our commitment to create a fair work agency which will strengthen enforcement powers against bad employers, raise standards for the most vulnerable workers and ensure all businesses play by the same rules.
The Government is making these changes so it can build an economy that works for everyone, and as we implement the next steps of our make work pay agenda, we are focused on making lives better, supporting business and delivering economic growth.
Kimberley residents deserve security in work, to receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work and to know that if they are sick they will be protected at work; that is exactly what these changes deliver.
These measures are just some of the many examples of how the Government are acting in the interests of working people, delivering a stronger, fairer and brighter future for workers in Britain.