#spartacus #uklabour #workfare #wrb #blacktriangle1
REGIONAL DIFFERENCES – POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
In yesterday’s budget one line , which didn’t seem to be picked up by the press but was, very clearly, noticed by the Tory backbenchers was:
the Opposition have proposed the interesting idea of regional benefit rates.
So I decided to do a very rough and ready look at possible effects of regionalising benefits.
Using figures sourced from the IFS:
|
Public Sector Premium (%) | Median Income (local prices) | Median Income (uniform prices) |
| Wales | 18 | 98 | 91.8 |
| East | 12.2 | 104.9 | 106.7 |
| Yorkshire / Humber | 10.5 | 97.2 | 92.1 |
| S West | 7.5 | 99.2 | 101.1 |
| E Midlands | 7.1 | 96 | 92.6 |
| W Midlands | 7.1 | 94.6 | 93.1 |
| Scotland | 5.6 | 105.9 | 100.7 |
| London | 4.7 | 100.8 | 111.3 |
| North East | 4.6 | 94.7 | 89.8 |
| North West | 4.1 | 95.6 | 93.7 |
| S East | -1.4 | 109.6 | 116.1 |
| UK Average | 5.5 | ————— | ————— |
Table 1: Income Data
KEY POINTS:
- There is no metric that produces a ‘fair’ outcome across the country as Public Sector Premium is not correlated to local costs of living
- Minimum Wage for a 40 hour week could be between £210.80 and £275.60
- The choice of Metric can have huge consequences eg A Scale 1 teacher in Wales could be on a salary of £18,284 or £23,516 depending on Metric used
