§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what have been the percentage increases in the limits listed in the draft statutory instrument, the Employment Protection (Variation of Limits) Order 1981, 147W for each year since their introduction; and how this compares in each of those years with the increase year-on-year, at the time of the laying of the order, in retail prices, average earnings, and, where relevant, the tax and price index.
§ Mr. WaddingtonUnder the Redundancy Payments Act 1965, the maximun amount of a week's pay that could be used for calculating redundancy payments was £40, increased to £80 in 1974.
Under the Employment Protection Act 1975 an £80 limit on a week's pay was adopted for amounts payable under the insolvency provisions—from April 1976—and for the basic and additional awards of compensation for unfair dismissal—from June 1976. The guarantee pay provisions of the Act were brought into operation in February 1977 at the rate of £6 per day.
These limits remained unchanged until the first annual review under the Act took place in autumn 1977 which varied the limits with effect from February 1978. Each year since then, orders have been laid in November or December after the annual review varying the limits with effect from the following February.
The following table shows the year-on-year percentage increases in the limits—February to February from 1977—compared with the increases in retail prices, average earnings and the tax and prices index for the year to the September preceding the laying date.
Percentage increases Year on year Limit on a week's pay Guarantee pay February to February Per cent. Per cent. 1977–1978 25 10 1978–1979 10 9.8 1979–80 9.1 10.3 1980–1981 8.3 9.4 1981–1982 (proposed) 3.8 4.6
Percentage increases Year on year Retail prices Average earnings Tax and prices September to September Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. 1976–1977 15.6 7.7 14.2 1977–1978 7.8 15.1 1.9 1978–1979 16.5 14.5 14.1 1979–18980 15.9 26.0 17.3 1980–1981 11.4 9.3 14.9
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what adjustment would be needed to each of the limits listed in the draft statutory instrument, the Employment Protection (Variation of Limits) Order 1981, to restore them to their values at the time of introduction.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe weekly earnings limit for redundancy payments was fixed at £40 in 1965. An increase to approximately £200 would be necessary to keep in line with increases in the retail price index to September 1981. The earnings limit for the insolvency provisions and for basic awards under the unfair dismissal provisions of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 have, since their introduction, been the same as that applied to redundancy payments.
148WThe limit for guarantee pay was fixed initially at £6 per day in February 1977. Based on the RPI increase to September 1981 a current figure of approximately £10 would have the same value.