To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on the public purse of women leaving the labour force due to the minimum income requirement.
Answered on
11 March 2019
The Government has a very strong record on helping women to enter and progress in the labour market. Female employment is at a record high; the female unemployment rate is the lowest since comparable records began; and the female employment rate increased by more in the last parliament than in the previous three combined.
The level of the minimum income requirement of £18,600, introduced in 2012, is designed to ensure that those bringing their family into the UK from non-EEA countries can properly support their partner and any dependants financially, and was set based on advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) in November 2011.
The Treasury has not conducted an assessment of the fiscal impact of any potential change in female labour force participation as a result of the minimum income requirement.