Consumer groups have written to ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) warning that too broad a review of the 2012 pension proposals would threaten the hard-won consensus for a new system based on auto-enrolment. The text of the letter is:
If child benefit had been linked to CPI since 2000 instead of RPI, it would now be £18.05 for the first child rather than the current £20.30, according to new TUC research published today (Tuesday).
And carers' allowance – paid to people looking after dependents – would now be £5 less at £48.64 a week rather than its current level of £53.90.
Poor mothers will lose up to £1,200 a year from changes announced in the Budget today (Tuesday), and are among the biggest losers according to a TUC analysis of benefit changes.
The Sure Start Maternity Grant will, from April 2011, only be available for the first child in a family. This is a cut of £500 for low income pregnant mothers who already have a child.
Commenting further on the Emergency Budget today (Tuesday) TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“This Budget got the big judgement about the economy wrong.
“The economy is still fragile, and today's measures will certainly slow recovery and could well stop it in its tracks. Spending and benefit cuts together with the VAT increase will take much needed spending power out of the economy. The private sector has been hit as hard as the public sector today.
Responding to the Emergency Budget today (Tuesday) TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“This Budget was economically dangerous and socially divisive. The one thing we can now say is that we are very definitely not all in this together. Those on middle and low incomes have done worse than expected, and the rich have been let off much of what they feared.
“But we will all suffer from an economy that is now likely to be sluggish at best and with a double-dip recession at worst.”
Commenting on the announcement by the Government today (Monday) that it will confirm the 13p rise in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) proposed by the previous Government, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“We welcome the new Government's decision to confirm the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission.
“The minimum wage has been a great success, and if this announcement means that this is an area that will see continuity rather than change it will win wide support.”
The Robin Hood Tax Campaign is today (Monday) calling on George Osborne to include in tomorrow's Emergency Budget a tax on the financial sector that could help prevent some of the cuts in public spending that will have the most impact on the poor and vulnerable.
Commenting on the CBI report on the UK labour market published today (Monday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
Swingeing cuts in the Emergency Budget tomorrow (Tuesday) would put hundreds of thousands of public and private sector workers on the dole, derail the UK's fledgling economic recovery, and hit the poorest in our communities the hardest, says the TUC today (Monday).
As the World Cup reaches the crucial round of final group matches, the TUC is today (Monday) urging bosses not to score an own goal and allow staff who wish to watch televised games to do so.