Spike! Budget hits short hours, minimum waged, disability and carers

By Mark Drakeford

Today’s budget remains a budget of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.

On 1 April any couple currently working 16 hours will have to find work for 24 hours or lose the whole of their Working Tax Credit. Figures today show that 8 out of 10 families in that position are not able to obtain that extra work. They will each lose £3,870 a year.

A family where the adult [s] working are on the minimum wage will be better off on benefit – £14 each week better off – than staying in work. But if they do leave work, they will cost the state £2,675 more each year.

Despite attempts by Labour in the House of Lords and the House of Commons, families with disabled children and full-time carers will not be exempt from these changes. Families who manage now on as little as £17,000 a year will now have to manage on £14,000. In Cardiff 3230 children, in 1,475 families will be affected – 220 families in Cardiff North, 295 in Cardiff Central, 435 in Cardiff West and 525 in Cardiff South and Penarth.

And all this on a day when those earning over £150,000 have had their taxes cut!

Mark Drakeford is Labour Assembly Member for Cardiff West.

This article first appeared on Mark’s Facebook page