Archbishop of York: Coronavirus exposes the benefits system for 'how mean it really is' as key workers survive on 'poverty wages'

In what is expected to be one of his final political interventions while in his current position, before his retirement at the beginning of next month, the Archbishop said it was “shocking” that children living in poverty had not been at the forefront of support plans as he pointed to the suffering caused by 10 years of austerity.

Speaking virtually in the House of Lords the Archbishop said: “The truth we now see is that the vast majority of front-line key workers are hard-pressed on poverty wages.”

Last month the Resolution Foundation think tank found around half of frontline care workers, some one million people, were paid less than the real living wage of £10.75 an hour in London and £9.30 an hour across the rest of Britain.

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And in data released by the Office for National Statistics last year, it showed the median weekly wage in Yorkshire was £538.10 while in London it was £736.50.

The Archbishop said: “If we support the principle that those who are least well-off should get the most help, it is shocking that children living in poverty have not been the number one priority in the unprecedented package of support announced by the Chancellor.

“The coronavirus national emergency is already exposing the inadequacy of the safety net provided by our social security system, as more people who have not previously relied on benefits get to experience how mean it really is. Hopefully, this will lead to a more generous and compassionate system.”

It comes as the chairman of a Government-commissioned review into health inequalities said the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on people in the most deprived areas was “utterly predictable”.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, director of University College London’s Institute of Health Equity, said the pandemic has “exposed and amplified the underlying inequalities in society”.

While Mary-Ann Stephenson, director of the Women’s Budget Group said: “Covid-19 has magnified existing inequalities.”

The Archbishop said there was a difference between what was considered by the Government to be a living wage and what he considered a real living wage, referencing his time as chair of the Living Wage Commission.

The former, he said, was “a higher minimum wage rate for over-25s”, while he felt it meant “families do not go short”.

And in a call to action he urged ministers to raise the living wage to £10 per hour, as he said: “The time has come for us all to stop talking about welfare benefits and talk instead about social insurance, a term which underlines both that our focus should be on need, and that we are all in this together.”

After the Welsh Government gave all care workers a £500 bonus last week in recognition for their work, union Unite warned that the UK government cannot ignore the low pay rates that many of the key workers during this crisis currently receive.

The Archbishop said: “Care work is a huge industry with around one million workers supporting some of the most vulnerable people in society, often for incredibly low pay.

“For too long, its importance has been undervalued and underfunded but now there is a real opportunity to create lasting change in the sector. As we emerge from this crisis, we must look again at how we value this work and pay for it.”

He added: “Then, we must deliver fair pay rises for our key workers and rewards for workers across the economy, to restore what they have lost through 10 years of cuts and slow growth.

"Let us make paying the real living wage the litmus test for a fair recovery."

For the Government, Lord Agnew of Oulton paid tribute to the outgoing Archbishop of York for his work in championing a range of social causes, including the need to end low pay, an “ambition the Government shares”.

Lord Agnew said key workers deserved to be properly rewarded and last July the Government delivered the second year of above-inflation pay rises for almost a million public sector workers.

He said low-paid workers would benefit from the April increase in the national living wage and reaffirmed the target of “pushing on” to reach two thirds of median earnings by 2024 providing economic conditions were secure.

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