-
Two-thirds of the financial benefit from raising the
national insurance personal allowance will go to better off
households
-
Average annual wage will fall by £552 this year
compared to 2021 under the Chancellor’s plans
-
Chancellor should have penalised DP World by
withdrawing public contracts
Responding to today’s (Wednesday) spring statement from the
Chancellor, which forecasts that wages will fall in value by 2.0%
this year, the equivalent to a real terms £552 pay cut, TUC
General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“In the midst of the biggest wages and bills crisis in living
memory, Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement has failed families who
need help now.
“We did not get the urgent help with soaring bills that families
need. And the rise in the national insurance threshold will
mostly benefit better off households.
“The Spring Statement small print shows that pay packets are now
expected to fall in value by £11 a week this year. After 12 years
of Tory government, Britain needs a pay rise. But this Chancellor
has no plan to get wages rising and give working people long-term
financial security.”
Responding to the Chancellor’s failure to penalise P&O parent
company DP World following their sacking of nearly 800 workers
with no notice and no consultation last week, Frances
added:
“Not only is the Chancellor not standing up for struggling
families, he is not standing up to bad bosses. He should have
taken all public contracts off DP World, including freeports, and
clawed back all funding they received during the pandemic until
they reinstate the workers. Bad bosses should know they are not
welcome to do business in the UK.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- TUC spring statement submission: The TUC’s
submission to the Treasury, including recommendations on the
support needed for working people and their families with soaring
bills and to get wages rising, can be found here: https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/ending-pay-crisis
- Figures for falling wages: The figures above
showing the value of average (regular) pay falling by 2.0 %, £552
per year or £11per week are derived from the updated forecasts
for average earnings and CPI inflation published by the Office
for Budget Responsibility today. The relevant data can be found
in Table 1.1 of the Economic and fiscal outlookdocument.
- Real pay cuts from 2010 to
2021: The Conservatives have imposed real pay cuts on
public sector workers through pay freezes and caps from 2010 to
2021. Looked at over the period since the 2008 financial crisis,
real public sector pay to November 2021 is down 1.6% based on CPI
inflation. And the latest (December 2021) figures show real pay
falling 1.6% in health, 4.6% in education and 4.2% in public
administration.
For pay across the whole economy, the party has presided over all
but two years of the longest pay squeeze since Napoleonic times
(2008-2021), during which average pay across the economy fell in
value, leaving workers facing effective pay cuts. At the trough
in 2014 real pay was down 7.4% on its previous peak.
- The UK’s exceptional pay squeeze compared to other
countries: Last week the TUC published research showing
that the UK is one of just 7 out of 33 OECD countries where real
wages have fallen between 2007 and 2020. The average wage in the
UK would be £76 per week higher if growth had kept pace with the
OECD average since the financial crisis. Full details here:
https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/uk-!
workers-miss-out-ps4000-pay-growth-compared-oecd-average-2007-tuc-analysis
