Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of the end of support under the Coronavirus Job retention Scheme on levels of in-work poverty.

The Government continues to monitor and publish trends in poverty across the UK. The Household Below Average Income (HBAI) publication looks at household incomes and poverty levels in the UK, but the latest available figures only cover up to the financial year 2019/20 and so do not capture the time period in which the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has ended. These can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020

However, we have taken recent steps to ensure work pays. We are doing this by reducing the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 p.a. This is essentially a tax cut for the lowest paid in society worth around £2.2 bn in 2022-23. This change also means that 1.9m households will on average keep around an extra £1,000 on an annual basis. We are also increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour from April 2022 for workers aged 23+, which is expected to benefit more than 2 million workers.