‘Low pay is a moral scandal in our country’ – Mark Lazarowicz MP
Mark Lazarowicz MP is supporting Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy’s plan to address the problem of low pay by offering employers tax rebates when they increase their staff’s pay to the living wage of £7.85 per hour.
Under the plans, employers would receive a tax rebate of up to £1000 for every low paid worker who gets a pay rise.
The average rebate would be £445, meaning that if every low paid worker across Scotland was given the living wage, business would get a windfall of over £180 million.
•a 25% fall in absenteeism
•80% of employers believing the living wage has enhanced the quality of the work of their staff
•66% of employers reporting a significant impact on recruitment and retention within their organisation
Over 400,000 Scots are currently paid less than the living wage – with an estimated 39,000 in Edinburgh alone – and Scottish Labour argues the living wage is best for business and best for fairness.
The North & Leith MP said: “Low pay is a moral scandal in our country and it is also holding our economy back. This plan to extend the living wage could lift thousands of Scots out of low pay. We could give a pay rise to as many as 39,000 workers in Edinburgh alone.
“Edinburgh City Council has already led the way by becoming a living wage employer so it is committed to paying all of its staff at least the living wage. Local businesses will see a bonus too, with £17 million available for businesses in Edinburgh.
“The research shows that absenteeism and staff turnover go down whilst performance and morale go up. It means a happier, more efficient workplace.
“A lot of businesses in Scotland aren’t turning over millions. They are on the sharp end budgeting month to month, they might want to give a pay rise to their staff but the conditions aren’t right.
“That is why Scottish Labour has a plan to convince these businesses to pay the living wage. We will use make work pay contracts to incentivise better pay for staff – and better performance for business.”
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Sounds like a good idea but it will only encourage some employers to pin their wages at a level to qualify for the tax rebate. So in reality it is not the employer that is paying the living wage, it is the rest of us through our taxes. Perhaps if Labour had got the minimum wage legislation right then the living wage wouldn’t be necessary. If a living wage is necessary, and it is, what does that make the minimum wage? A non living wage?
Where this has been trialled south of the border it has been done by Tory Borough Councils who get the same type of relief through business rates – so you, me and all the other taxpayers are subsidising the business people who keep wages low and we pay them to do it! Very Tory policy, so I suppose it isn’t that surprising that Jim and Mark support it these days.