Clause 15 - Income and Capital
State Pension Credit Bill [Lords]
6:15 pm
Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman has actually come to the point on which I intended to intervene. I may not have the details right, but the Under-Secretary gave an example of a single person earning £35 for part-time work, the credit raising it to £123. In taking marginal decisions about whether to work, that person would be looking at the difference between what they earn and what they would receive if they did not bother to work, which would have been £100. The difference is £23 rather than £35, which is the full value of the work; if they were being paid the minimum wage, the difference would be substantially less than the minimum wage itself. That person would be wondering whether it was worth going out to work.