Women 'to benefit from living wage', Treasury claims
Two-thirds of the workers who will benefit from the Government's national living wage (NLW) are women, according to Treasury figures that will be revealed by George Osborne later today.
The Chancellor made the NLW the centrepiece of last week's Budget, promising a compulsory minimum wage for workers aged over 25 set at £7.20 an hour from April next year, rising to more than £9 by 2020.
Treasury analysis of the policy suggests 2.7 million people will benefit by 2020, with 80% of those from areas outside London and the South East.
Mr Osborne is expected to showcase the figures today after his Budget came under attack for hitting the poorest harder than wealthier households.
He is expected to say:
Last week, the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies found the poor will lose out more than the rich from the Budget and cast doubt on Mr Osborne's claim that it would pave the way to a "higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare" Britain.
While welfare payments will indeed be cut to the tune of £12 billion, the Chancellor's package would in fact increase taxes by £6.5 billion a year by 2020 and it was a "gamble" to rely on the new mandatory NLW to increase incomes, the IFS found.
The think-tank found that the average low-paid worker on tax credits would "unequivocally" lose more from benefit cuts announced by the Chancellor than they would gain from the introduction of the NLW, which will be worth £7.20 an hour to workers aged 25 or more - rising to £9 by 2020 - compared to £6.50 on the current national minimum wage.