National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Bill (First sitting)

Debate between Thelma Walker and Laura Smith

Tuesday 14th May 2019 Public Bill Committees

[Laura Smith]

Q So we can get some of that information from you. Brilliant, thank you.

Simon Smith: Yes. I think it is publicly available. There is a full list of the respondents to the consultation on termination payments at the back of the consultation document.

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

Q It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms McDonagh. There is concern among trade unions that this means downward pressure on the amount received by people losing their jobs, who are, by definition, in a time of need. What are your comments on that?

Robert Jenrick: I tried to answer that earlier. We all understand that, regardless of income, losing your job is a very difficult period in your life. People of all income levels can live to their income and have commitments and so on. I do not for one moment underestimate the difficulty that that situation presents to individuals and their families. However, this measure is targeted at higher earners. We have the £30,000 threshold, which takes out the majority of termination payments. Around 20% of those individuals receiving a termination payment will be affected by this, so 80% will not be affected.

Those who are affected will be individuals in the higher income brackets, as we said earlier—those in the top two or three income deciles. They will be higher rate or additional rate taxpayers. I do not diminish the fact that for higher rate taxpayers, losing your job is a very difficult period in your life which puts all manner of pressures on you and your family. It is worth noting, at least, that this is a measure that is unlikely to impact those on lower incomes.

Department for Education

Debate between Thelma Walker and Laura Smith

Tuesday 3rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

I am delighted to follow the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman). As a co-sponsor of this debate with the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), I believe that it is important that this House has the opportunity to scrutinise fully the Department for Education’s spending. I hope that Members will come to the same conclusion as me—that much more needs to be spent on schools and our young people’s education.

“I hope that we all agree that the aim is to provide the right education for every child. For some children, that will be an education that is firmly based in learning practical and vocational skills. For others, it will be an education based on academic excellence.” —[Official Report, 2 June 1997; Vol. 295, c. 60-61.]

Those are not my words, but the words of the Prime Minister in her maiden speech. I would like to use the next few minutes to examine the Prime Minister’s words to see how they fit with the Department for Education’s policies and spending plans today.

First, let us look at

“the right education for every child.”

I agree with the Prime Minister’s words that every child deserves the right education, regardless of their background, postcode or the support needed.

[Laura Smith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

Since the introduction of the new code of practice, there has been a significant increase in the number of pupils eligible to access special educational needs funding, but no proportionate increase in funding from central Government. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to examine pressures on SEN budgets as part of their spending review, to help struggling local authorities such as Cheshire East Council, which is already anticipating a £2 million overspend this year alone?

Public Sector Pay

Debate between Thelma Walker and Laura Smith

Monday 4th December 2017 Westminster Hall

[Laura Smith]

I agree, and I will move on to another affected group. We have 900 careworkers leaving their job every day—every single day. An Age UK study estimated that, over five years, the NHS lost 2.4 million bed days as shortages of social care support meant that vulnerable patients could not be discharged, which has cost the NHS £669 million. For every extra pound put in a public sector worker’s pay packet, they are far more likely to spend it in our shops than to save it or stash it away in some offshore tax haven.

Unison research suggests that a 1% increase in public sector pay generates up to £820 million in increased income tax, national insurance and tax receipts, and it means reduced spending on benefits. It also adds £470 million to £880 million to the economy and creates between 10,000 and 18,000 jobs. A public sector worker paid the median public sector wage in 2010 and subject to the two-year pay freeze followed by the 1% pay cap ever since has seen the value of their wages drop by £4,781.

A Unison survey of its members in the NHS revealed that over 200 respondents had used a food bank in the last 12 months; 73% had had to ask family and friends for financial support; 20% used a debt advice service; 17% pawned possessions; 16% used a payday loan company; and 23% moved to a less expensive home or had to mortgage their house. As a child, I watched as my mother had to pawn our possessions. No child should ever have to watch that. Our public sector workers were told we are all in this together and that a pay cap is necessary to deal with our country’s debts.

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend believe it is appalling that the Government are trying to play public sector workers off against one another and that every public sector worker deserves a pay rise, as they are the glue that holds this country together?

[Laura Smith]

Government Members may sit and roll their eyes and shake their heads, but as far as I am concerned they just do not like listening to the truth. I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend.

The Government told us that it would all be over by 2015, once they had cleared the deficit. That was pushed back to 2016 and then 2018, 2019 and, most recently, 2025. In the meantime, we have become the only OECD country to see wages fall while the economy grows. The cap means that public sector workers received a pay increase of just 4.1% between 2010 and 2016. In stark contrast, dividends to shareholders in the top companies rose by 57% over the same period.

Austerity is not working; it is only hurting ordinary working people while the super-rich get ever richer. The Paradise papers show us exactly where their extra money is going. We were all hoping that the Chancellor would see sense and change course in the Budget, but instead we got more of the same for our public sector workers. The Government are great at thanking our emergency services in the aftermath of a crisis, but when they reach into their pockets, they find nothing more than a pat on the back for the workers who hold those services together.

The Government must stop viewing a pay rise as a burden on the public purse. To do so is not only economically illiterate but an insult to those who work to keep us safe, healthy, educated and cared for. With every new spending pledge, politicians are asked, “How can we afford to do it?” I ask the Government this: how can we afford it? Well, nurses are unable to afford food, police officers are unable to afford houses and cleaners are unable to afford to get into work—how can they afford it? Tax havens for the rich, executive pay ballooning, rapidly growing inequality—how can we afford it?

This is no longer a question of choice; it is a question of necessity. The Government must pay up now with above-inflation pay rises for all public sector workers. They cannot afford not to. I want to thank the public sector workers of my constituency for all that they do. Now, let us get them the pay rise they all deserve. It is shameful that Government Members sit shaking their heads, ignoring this and playing on their phones instead of listening to the facts that people in the Chamber have brought them and Unison has given them.