(Lab):...These findings and
those of the IFS, the Resolution Foundation, the Legatum
Institute, the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation and many others confirm the importance
of uprating universal credit and legacy benefits by inflation for
the many stressed individuals and households. You do not get a
clean slate by asserting that it is a new era; you have to carry
the consequences of the impact on public well-being of the
sustained cuts in social security benefits over the past 10 years
and the compounding effect of future cuts. Asserting a clean
slate is not enough...
(Lab):...As my noble
friends Lady Sherlock and and other noble Lords outlined,
for those relying on welfare benefits, whether they are in work
or not, inflation is not their friend. The Joseph Rowntree
Foundation tells us that, if the Government uprate
benefits by earnings rather than inflation, they will push a
further 450,000 people into poverty. This will also increase
poverty among working families by 350,000 more people, and
families with a disabled person by a further 250,000, of whom a
quarter are children. Could the Minister tell your Lordships’
House what discussions there have been with the Department for
Work and Pensions about the health impact of failing to uprate
benefits to reflect the reality of the cost of living? Following
on from the comments of my noble friends and , where is the workforce plan to
address low pay and record vacancy rates in the NHS and social
care workforce—something that has been raised repeatedly in your
Lordships’ House?
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