Green Party announces policy of living wage for apprentices

Green Party announces policy of living wage for apprentices

* Deputy leader announces commitment at Autumn Conference in Bristol.

* Move coupled with policy to end pay discrimination for under 18s.

* Amelia Womack: “If we want to build a working environment that is fair for everyone, we have to make things fair from your very first job onwards.”

In her first Conference speech since her re-election last month, Green Party of England and Wales deputy leader Amelia Womack has announced a policy to provide a living wage for apprenticeships.

The policy is part of a wider plan to revolutionise the world of work and seeks to alleviate the UK’s skills shortage by encouraging more young people to seek apprenticeships.

Womack also announced the party’s intention to deliver an equal minimum wage for under 18s. Currently, the minimum wage for an 18 year old is £5.90, while the minimum wage for a person under 18 is £4.20. The Green Party would increase the under 18’s minimum wage and make it equal.

Amelia Womack said:

“A fair workplace has to be fair for apprentices as well. So today we are also pledging our official support a living wage for apprentices. The current minimum wage for apprentices is £3.70 per hour.

Meanwhile, three quarters of young people polled this year have said that low pay would put them off taking up an apprenticeship.

It is no wonder that we have a skills shortage in this country. It is time that the political class woke up to the value of investing in training and apprenticeships, to the hardships facing young people today and to the realities of pay inequality in Britain.”