NMW wage increase during the boom years can't be compared to the increase brought about by this government during a recession when most people (above NMW) have had pay freezes.
Also the introduction of the automatic enrolment for pensions affects how much pay can go up - employers have needed to plan for that ...
Haven't looked at it for a while (effects where I work, I do finances and budgets but keeps being delayed for small businesses)
IIRC eventually it will be 5% employees and 3% employer will have to contribute. That means that effectively employers will have given their employees a 3% increase, even though the employee won't see it in their pay packet just their pension.
But I would say is long term a good thing - if the NEST scheme which most small employers will sign up to is actually competitive. (problem with Stakeholder pensions most employees in poorly paid jobs didn't sign up, small employers just signed up to one that would cost them the least but might not be best for the employees)
Income tax personal allowance increase is a good thing. In 2009 you paid tax on anything more than £6035pa - now it is £10k . All the employees I do the wages for - all part time, term time workers are now out of the tax bracket (except one who uses all their allowance from other income).
Still have issues with NI (especially not being cumulative) but then a lot of these employees do make the lower limit without having to pay anything so are building up credits. And the £2k pa employer NI allowance just introduced is good for where I work, as we paid less than that and now won't have to pay anything. Gives us a little bit more in the 'staff cost' pot, so we can afford to pay the staff a wee bit more.
I like the idea of a living wage - unfortunately if we paid the staff a 'living wage' they just wouldn't have a job any more - our finances are that tight (charity). I would say that over the last two years our situation has slightly improved and also we don't seem to be having any problems getting grants etc. Things are looking up for us - 3-4yr ago I was thinking it was just a matter of how long we could keep going before we went under. But the staff have reduced their hours, had a pay freeze until last year etc - without them doing their bit we would be finished now.
I agree that the bedroom tax is unfair if people are trapped.
And I think private landlords for social housing is a mistake. I watched a 'Homes under the hammer' a few years ago. Someone bought a property and did it up to rent out. When the estate agents did their valuation, I can't remember the exact figures but say they said she could get £400pm rent - she already had a deal with the council getting £500 pm -and the presenter congratulated her on it 
!
Maybe councils should be buying houses like these for social housing.
I'm equally lost who to vote for ...think maybe we should start our own party.