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Poverty |
We believe that until poverty is adequately addressed, inequality will continue to increase throughout the United Kingdom. Successive governments have failed to address the causes and some policies have served only to exacerbate the problem.
To give the public greater financial security we will;
- Make the minimum wage a living wage
- Consider introducing a basic income to lift everyone out of poverty
The Office for Budget Responsibility will be given a new role in accessing and forecasting levels of poverty, while the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission will have it's remit extended to the whole of the UK to more effectively hold the government to account1.
The central bank will be required to consider the reduction of inequality (as measured by the GINI coefficient) when formulating monetary policy to balance its existing remit of maintaining price stability and inflation at 2%.
We believe that the cost of childcare is so high that it actively inhibits people from finding employment and building themselves a career. That is why, building on the current 30hr free childcare provision for all children aged 3 and 4, we will look to gradually increase this until a full working week is provided for free for all.
We propose increasing the income and national insurance limits to make child care more affordable from £243 a month to £500 a month for basic rate tax payers. This would provide a saving of £160 a month at full voucher limit. Higher and Additional Rates would be amended to reflect the savings level.
Footnotes
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As recommended by "A UK without poverty", Joseph Rowntree Foundation, September 2014: http://www.jrf.org.uk/a-uk-without-poverty ↩