Work and Families Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for moving the amendment, which will again give me an opportunity to try to clarify the position. I hope that my reply will not be too long and that we will all be able to get away in good time. I should like to start by outlining why the Government are doing this. I do not think that the provision is out of place in a Bill of this nature. It is right that it was a manifesto commitment to raise the limit, but we should recognise that successive governments have let the relative value of the weekly limit fall in recent years because it is linked to RPI rather than average earnings. That was a particular reason why we are looking for this one-off change. The Government are well aware of employers’ concerns about the size of any increase to the weekly limit, and I understand the remarks made by the noble Baroness in support of the amendment. However, it is simply too soon to say what the increase will be—I know that this will disappoint her—and indeed when it will be introduced. I cannot tie the Government to a particular figure or timetable today. However, I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that the Government do not expect the increase to be dramatic. I understand that there have been some press reports—they have been referred to—speculating that the limit might be more or less doubled to around £560 per week. Without wishing to restrict the Government’s room for manoeuvre, I suspect that an increase of 10 per cent may be rather closer to the mark than 100 per cent. In addition, we have provided in subsection (5) of the clause that any order will be subject to the affirmative procedure, so it is not really the blank cheque that was suggested. When we have reached a view on how the limit should be reset, the House will have the opportunity fully to debate the order and the new weekly limit. This is an important safeguard that guarantees that any new limit will be properly debated and scrutinised. I hope that that additional information has helped the noble Baroness, but I understand that she, like me, will have to await the consultation and the ongoing discussions. The Government will bring forward proposals in due course.