Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about pay rises for key workers.

The pandemic has shown who the real key workers are, from NHS staff to care workers, supermarket workers, cleaners, delivery drivers and bus drivers. Many of those on the frontline have been undervalued and underpaid for far too long and we owe them a vision of a better future.

Although I welcomed the pay rise announced in July for a number of our public sector workers, for many frontline workers it will not make up for a decade of real terms pay cuts. In addition, I am aware that the Chancellor has said that the Government “must exercise restraint in future public sector pay awards”.

Many other public sector workers – including those working on the front line in social care – did not get a pay rise because of the lack of a boost to local authority funding. I support calls for the Government to publish the plan for social care that was expected in 2018 without further delays, and for the plan to guarantee all care workers are paid at least the real Living Wage. Unlike the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, which are legal minimum hourly rates, the real Living Wage is higher and is calculated according to the cost of living.

It has also recently been reported that there may be what has been termed an “emergency brake” to the increase in the National Living Wage next year.

I believe we need a more ambitious approach to making our tax system fairer and building a society and economy fit for the future. We must recognise that the consequences of COVID-19 and the lockdown are being felt most by those who can ill afford it, such as those on low pay and those in insecure employment.

I want to see an end to poverty pay for our social care workers and those who clean our hospitals and deliver our groceries. We need a recognition of the value of the work of those who have been taken for granted for far too long.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this very important issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP