Live webchat with Rachel Reeves, Labour shadow for work and pensions; THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY 11.30-12.30

[RowanMumsnet]

We’re pleased to say that we’ll be welcoming Rachel Reeves MP to MNHQ for a webchat on Thursday February 26 at 11.30am.

Rachel is the MP for Leeds West, and Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; among other things her brief includes the ‘bedroom tax’ (also known as the ‘removal of the spare room subsidy’ or ‘under-occupancy penalty’), which she has said Labour will abolish.

Before becoming an MP, she worked as an economist for the Bank of England, the British Embassy in Washington and at Halifax Bank of Scotland. Her second child is due in June and there was some controversy earlier this week when she announced her intention to take maternity leave should Labour form the government after the General Election in May.

Please join us on Thursday at 11:30 if you can; as ever, if you can’t join us live, then leave your question on this thread in advance. (And please remember our webchat guidelines.)

Thanks
MNHQ

Hi Rachel

Could you please tell us what workplace pension provision Labour will propose for nannies and their employers?

I work closely with parents who employ nannies and a lot of them are concerned that employment costs will rise dramatically if the Automatic Enrolment workplace pensions regulations will continue to apply should we see a change in government.

Many thanks.

"We will introduce a specialist Work Support programme to give disabled people the support they need to find a job. "

Oh. Another one.

That'll be different from the current mandatory work support programme, will it?

And different from the non-mandatory one, Pathways to Work and those Job Brokers, that ran for years before that?

Yep. Just run another work-finder programme. That'll fix disability.

@RifRaf

Rachel,

I have been fascinated watching the Inside the Commons documentary, but also thoroughly depressed regarding how our democracy is run. Men (and some women) jeering at each other across the floor; having to drop one's child with whoever is available in the office to run to vote within the 8 minutes allocated etc etc... There is a fine line between tradition and being stubbornly backwards-looking in my opinion.

If re-elected, what would you be doing to try and drag the way our House of Commons is run into the 21st Century?

Hi RifRaf, I am ashamed to say I haven't watched it yet. Finished Broadchurch this week so it is next on my list... But agree things need reforming. I'm a Leeds MP and of the eight constituencies in the city i am only the second woman (the only other stood down in 1970!...). When I was born there were 25 women in parliament now it's 148, and more of us have children too so progress is being made but v slowly.

On hours, Joan Ruddock (Lewisham Deptford MP) led a campaign 2 1/2 years ago to change the hours that parliament 'sits' so now we finish at 10pm on Mondays, 7pm Tuesdays, 6pm Wednesday and 5pmThursdays. It's a lot better than it was before but it's still hard. There is a crèche in the House of Commons but standard hours are 8-6 so you can see that you have to take children to late votes but you can't take them through the 'lobby'. I would like to see hours reformed and a way of agreeing that if someone is in parliament but can't get through to vote because they have a child with them they get 'nodded' through. As you say it can't be impossible to devise a system that makes that a bit easier. But we could make the hours more sensible too - start earlier in the morning and finish earlier in the evening. That way MPs with young children can be home for bedtime a bit more often. I'd definitely vote for that!...

@MrsVamos

While I'm on a rant, the Work Programme should also stop instantly in its current form, and Maximus should lose the contract for assessing people with disability.

Maximus don't have the best record or reputation, do they ?

The Work Programme contracts come to an end in 2017 and we will replace them with locally-commissioned programmes which can be more in touch with local need. I would also give greater opportunities for local organisations and charities to bid for these contracts rather than the massive contracts that exist at the moment.

On the disability assessments, Atos/Maximus, but the biggest issue is what Government ask the contractors to do. We would change the assessments to make them fairer to people with disabilities.

@ihategeorgeosborne

Thanks for your honesty Rachel, with regards to your reply regarding child benefit. The fact is though, that a single income family on little over 50k with 4 children is in the 4th income decile group for earnings according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. However, it also seems from your post that you are not going to do anything to change the fact that families on much higher incomes, i.e. 90k will still receive the benefit. Oh well, at least I now know where I stand.

I'm sorry I can't offer you more!

Best wishes,

Rachel

The problem is, it's all very well saying about help for disabled people back into work. But some of us CAN'T work and are still having to face unfair assessments with the threat of being found fit for work by someone ticking boxes and by someone who doesn't have any idea about fluctuating conditions such as ME/CFS, as I have.

Increasingly seeing parents wanting a nanny to be self employed. Nannies should have same employment rights as anyone else. Many nannies are young women, so will Labour make employment status rules easier/simplier and tighten up on employers including domestic employers who feel the rules should not apply to them?

Zero hours contracts: was that the fastest political u-turn in the history of Mumsnet? Perhaps even politics itself.

Kat- it isn't fair, but they're not going to change it as the number affected is too few.

@CrapBag

Hi Rachel.

I am going to ask the same question I asked Harriet Herman as it's important and relevant to a lot of people but it didn't get an answer.

Are Labour going to stop this war on the most vulnerable members of society?

I am on ESA and some DLA but I live in fear of being tested again and told I am fit for work when I am not. I suffer with ME/CFS and there is still a stigma around it where doctors don't always believe it.

I am sick of this war the Coalition is waging on disabled benefits when statistics show fraudulent benefit claims are actually very low. David Cameron may argue that more people are off benefits and back to work but many people just will not fight.

I did originally get put in the Work Related Assessment Group. I was only eligible to claim for 1 more year, then nothing! I wouldn't qualify for income related ESA as my husband works but his wages do not cover our outgoings, which are fairly meagre. Apparently "he earns too much" according to the government. I appealed and was lucky enough to get moved to the Support Group but this can be retested at any time and I have to go through the whole thing again. Private companies should NOT be in charge of testing peoples capability for work by ticking boxes.

I am very very interested to know Labour's policy on this, as a life long Labour supporter.

Hi Crapbag and also Smudger4,

You might be interested in a blog Kate Green and I wrote in December 2014

labourlist.org/2014/12/the-6-policies-labour-will-introduce-to-help-change-the-lives-of-disabled-people/

@SoccerFunDays

I support Rachel's right (any MP's right!) to take parental leave (and congratulations Rachel by the way )

I'd be interested in your views though on the other bit of my question. Should rules about this be set across Parliament? It feels as though it's all very ad hoc at the moment, so that MPs who put their heads above the parapet get shot down a bit. Maybe some proper employment rights for MPs wouldn't be a bad idea and would encourage more women to go into politics?

Thanks very much!

You are right, it is very ad hoc. I guess the issue is that the employer is our 80,000 strong constituency and it is difficult to see how someone can deputise when it comes to voting or being the local MP. But yes, I think more can be done. For example, on formalising the process of pairing so your constituents know that you not voting has not affected the outcome of the vote. Or you could ask another MP to vote on your behalf for the three, six, twelve months you take off. But it many ways, being an MP is not so different from other jobs. A lot can be deputised in a way that a classroom can be deputised, a doctor can be deputised, a shopworker can be deputised.

And you are right that we need to do more to get more women into Parliament. I think I said in an answer to a previous question, the hours that Parliament sits, for example, could be reformed. That would help parents be MPs - mums and dads.

Hmmm. So you wont be changing anything until contracts end, you wont wake up & realise Work Programmes don't work, because there needs to be jobs for people to apply for, and you would make disability assessments fairer ? How ? Perhaps by believing what actual, qualified medical staff tell you, or by getting better box tickers ?

You've already told me one thing then back tracked. Its all just hot air, meaningless words and nonsense.

Are you aware that you can't download a tax credits claim form? It takes up to 2 weeks to get it sent out, payment's are stopped whilst this happens. Then you have to wait weeks for it to be sorted. 6-8 weeks minimum. No reason why it can't be available online with a clear note to ring tax credits to report effective date

Yet for child benefit you must download form. They can't send it.

Both HMRC And both bureaucratic obstacles.

Friend has had partner move in, Housing benefits and tax credits stop and have to wait weeks to get it sorted. Vulnerable family in meanwhile as his wage will cover rent or food but not both.

'Kat- it isn't fair, but they're not going to change it as the number affected is too few.'

It could still be enough to swing an election though thoth

@GophersSitOnSofas

Hi Rachel,

The cost of a home student to some universities is already in excess of the £9k they are able to charge. If fees are reduced to £6k, will Labour fund the difference? The difference between £6 and £9k, or between £6 and the actual cost. How? What will you cut, or will there be fewer places for home students?

Thanks you.

Hi GophersSitOnSofas, it like my answer to Vix286. Detail on all this is going to be announced imminently so I can't give you the numbers today but hope you think our proposals are an improvement. You are right that some courses cost more than £9k - medicine, science, engineering are often expensive to teach. And I think it is right that some of the cost is paid for by taxpayers as a whole as people going to uni is good for country as a whole. Whatever we announce though has to be fully funded - not just on tuition fees but on the NHS, bedroom tax, schools etc etc. So, if we cut fees we will have to show that we will make up the money to unis in a different way. Watch this space!

Linerunner- they've not stated they'll ban, only previously said they'd stop unfair contracts which is why I asked for clarification. Too many employers want them to ban them, because it means zero rights too.

Line

Its just so sad, isn't it ?

Unfortunately, it doesn't shock or surprise.

@sockmatcher

Are you aware that you can't download a tax credits claim form? It takes up to 2 weeks to get it sent out, payment's are stopped whilst this happens. Then you have to wait weeks for it to be sorted. 6-8 weeks minimum. No reason why it can't be available online with a clear note to ring tax credits to report effective date

Yet for child benefit you must download form. They can't send it.

Both HMRC And both bureaucratic obstacles.

Friend has had partner move in, Housing benefits and tax credits stop and have to wait weeks to get it sorted. Vulnerable family in meanwhile as his wage will cover rent or food but not both.

I wasn't aware of those issues with tax credit forms but I will look into it, same on child benefit. You're right that bureaucracy shouldn't get in the way of people getting the support they need.

What will you do to remove the need for the ongoing reliance on food banks?

I worked in benefits for 15 years. If someone needed money we sorted it. All these call centres and processing centres have led to huge backlogs of claims and changes. Much easier when I used to work on a benefit agency counter and just processed the changes within a day or two. Sane day if urgent

Thank you for that link.

So essentially Labour are pledging to change the WCA to make it fairer and will penalise the company that unfairly fails people when they shouldn't have failed the test at all? I think I have read that right. Brain is a bit tired at the moment.

Thank you. You can't eben get one from a HMRC enquiry centre as they are all closed down!

@MovingOnUpMovingOnOut

I know two questions is poor form but as the thread is relatively quiet and I can't join the web chat tomorrow because I'll be working (self employed, not even 0 hours contract - as a direct result of taking maternity leave that I could not share, if you're interested)...

If Labour wins the election will you be restoring any of the employment rights which the current government has removed? For example removing the fees for tribunals that disproportinately punish the poorest workers or reducing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal back down to one year from two?

The erosion of employment rights is of great concern to me.

hi MovingOnUpMovingOnOut, we will reform the employment tribunals and put in place a new system which ensures all workers have proper access to justice. I agree with you that their is no point in people having rights if they can't be enforced. We have also promised to crack down on bogus self employment which deprives Treasury of taxes and workers of their rights and with 1.8mn people now on zero hour contracts we will ban employers using them to exploit workers.

@Rufus200

I agree with SoccerFunDays about your imminent maternity leave, it is one thing to go on maternity leave from your job as a MP but quite something different to leave a vital job in a new formed government. Why should the taxpayer employ you when you are imminently about to leave the job and will not be fulfilling your duty to the taxpayer? Who will cover the role when you are away? Should that person not be given the role permanently instead?

How are you going to fund the abolition of the bedroom tax and other changes you plan to make? What tax rises are you planning?

Our plan to scrap the bedroom tax is fully funded by; reversing George Osborne’s £150 million tax cut for hedge funds, scrapping the shares for rights scheme which has been rejected by businesses and has opened up a tax loophole of up to £1 billion and tackling bogus self employment in the construction industry. Scrapping the Bedroom Tax will be the first thing I do if Labour win in May

thoth

See Rachel Reeves 11:29am post.

....minimum wage, blah blah blah, banning zero hour contracts....blah blah blah.

@sockmatcher

What will you do to remove the need for the ongoing reliance on food banks?

I worked in benefits for 15 years. If someone needed money we sorted it. All these call centres and processing centres have led to huge backlogs of claims and changes. Much easier when I used to work on a benefit agency counter and just processed the changes within a day or two. Sane day if urgent

The number of people relying on food banks has gone up tenfold in the last five years. In my constituency there are three now. The main reasons people are using them are benefit delays and sanctions, cuts to benefits and people not earning enough to be able to eat and pay their bills. Jobcentres are not encouraged to let people know about discretionary or emergency payments and local welfare assistance is being cut back sharply.

I believe that the welfare state should be there to meet people's basic needs to be able to feed themselves and their families and to pay the bills and their rent. People shouldn't have to rely on charity for these basics.

I hope some of the things I've mentioned previously on sanctions, benefit delays, sanctions and the minimum wage show that I am determined to reduce the number of people who have to rely on food banks.