Greens pledge £15 minimum wage and higher benefit payments

Pay & minimum wage

If elected, the Green party say they will introduce a minimum wage of £15 per hour for all ages.

To help lessen the gap between top earners and the lower paid in organisations, the party want to set a maximum 10:1 pay ratio for all companies in the public and private sectors. This means a company’s senior-level workers wouldn’t earn more than ten times the lowest-earning worker’s salary.

They also want to extend gender pay gap policies to other protected characteristics, including ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation. The party say the right to flexible working arrangements is crucial, particularly for women, carers and disabled people.

Taxes & national insurance

The Greens plan to increase public investment by taxing the very rich. They want to introduce a wealth tax for individuals with assets above £10m at 1% a year and those with assets above £1bn at 2%.

The party also want to remove the upper earnings limit, which restricts how much national insurance high earners pay. Simply put, their manifesto states:

“Tax rates should not fall as income increases.”

On top of this, the party want to help fund social care by equating the rate of pension tax relief with the basic rate of income tax. This would restrict pension tax relief for everyone to 20% - currently, higher earners get 40% tax relief on their pension. The Greens say this will make more funding available for those who need it. 

Benefits

For everyone to be ‘treated with dignity’, the Green party say benefits need to be improved. They plan to raise universal credit and legacy benefits by £40 a week and abolish the two-child benefit cap.

If elected, the party say they will ensure pension rates are changed in line with inflation and wage rises.

Under a Green government, disability benefits would increase by 5%, carers’ allowance by at least 10%, and the bedroom tax would be ditched.

Rent controls                       

The Green party want to give local authorities the power to control rent if the market is overheated.

They plan to end the ‘right to buy’ scheme which allows council tenants to buy their council home at a discount. This would make sure social housing continues to be available to communities that need it, the party say.

Insulation programme

The Greens’ manifesto includes a £49 billion investment programme to insulate homes and public buildings. This plan would be rolled out over the next five years, they say.

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