Good work & fair pay: where the UK parties stand
Can I earn a decent, secure living?
Independent, source-checked analysis of how each party’s policies would affect this — judged on the evidence, without telling the system who proposed them. How this works.
Labour — 31 policies affect this: 17 helps · 10 mixed · 4 little effect. Compare interactively →
Introduce a New Industrial Strategy and National Wealth Fund — helps. This policy aims to create jobs and raise pay in advanced sectors by directing public investment to attract private capital, but the fund's scale is questioned by analysts and job creation figures are…
Accelerate National Infrastructure Development — helps. A major, long-term infrastructure programme is projected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, raise wages, and develop skills — but delivery risks and a multi-year lag mean workers may not feel th…
Support Small Businesses and Post Offices, and Address Horizon Scandal — helps. This policy tackles late payments, widens small business access to government contracts and finance, and commits to compensating Horizon scandal victims — all of which would improve pay security and j…
Deepen Devolution Across England and Support Local Government — helps. This policy would give local areas more control over skills, employment support, and economic development, and commits to improving public service workers' pay — both of which can help people earn a d…
Implement a New Deal for Working People — helps. This package of reforms — banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, ending fire and rehire, extending day-one rights, strengthening unions, and raising the minimum wage — would materially improve pay…
Conservative — 34 policies affect this: 14 mixed · 10 helps · 5 little effect · 4 hurts · 1 genuinely contested. Compare interactively →
Abolish Self-Employed National Insurance — helps. Abolishing self-employed National Insurance would put more money in the pockets of around 4 million self-employed workers — roughly £1,500 a year for someone earning £28,000 — but the gains phase in s…
Expand Free Childcare for Working Parents — helps. This policy is projected to help tens of thousands of parents — mostly mothers — enter work or increase their hours by cutting childcare costs significantly, but real-world gains depend on whether eno…
Mandatory National Service for 18-Year-Olds — hurts. Mandatory National Service is likely to harm young people's pay and job prospects by disrupting their education and careers, while economists warn it causes long-term earnings losses. The main uncerta…
Maintain Income Tax and VAT Rates — hurts. Keeping income tax rates the same sounds like good news for workers, but frozen thresholds mean more of people's pay gets taxed as wages rise — quietly squeezing take-home pay without any rate change.…
Maintain National Living Wage — helps. Keeping the National Living Wage tied to two-thirds of median earnings would give millions of low-paid workers a pay rise — projected around £13/hour — with evidence showing real gains even for those …
Liberal Democrat — 42 policies affect this: 31 helps · 9 mixed · 2 little effect. Compare interactively →
Universal Gigabit Broadband Rollout — helps. Universal gigabit broadband could support flexible working, business growth, and job quality — but the link to better pay and employment conditions for ordinary workers is indirect and uncertain, and …
Expand British Business Bank — helps. Expanding the British Business Bank aims to give more small businesses access to funding, which could create jobs and raise wages — but the projected gains are uncertain and will take years to materia…
Extend Rail Electrification and Improve Stations — helps. Better rail connections — especially Northern Powerhouse Rail — could help more people reach jobs across the North, and construction itself would create employment. But the scale of real-world benefit…
Boost Bus Services and Empower Local Authorities — helps. Better bus services could help workers — especially in rural areas — reach jobs they otherwise couldn't access, which matters for employment and pay. But the connection to actual wages or job security…
Negotiate Free and Simple Travel for Artists to the EU — helps. Removing post-Brexit touring barriers could restore significant lost income for UK artists, but the policy only commits to negotiating — and the EU has shown limited willingness to grant a broad deal,…
Reform UK — 42 policies affect this: 20 mixed · 9 hurts · 9 helps · 2 genuinely contested · 2 little effect. Compare interactively →
Restrict international student visas — hurts. By accelerating the fall in international student numbers, this policy would deepen the financial crisis already hitting universities, costing jobs and closing courses — most acutely outside London. R…
Mandate 5% departmental spending cuts — hurts. Cuts of this scale would almost certainly require reducing frontline public services, which employ a large share of the workforce — threatening job security and pay for public sector workers. Independ…
Replace the 2010 Equalities Act and scrap DE&I rules — hurts. Scrapping the Equality Act would remove legal protections that stop employers from paying women less, refusing jobs to ethnic minorities, or dismissing pregnant workers — making work less fair and sec…
Abolish VAT tourist tax — helps. Reinstating VAT-free shopping for tourists could support tens of thousands of retail and hospitality jobs by attracting more high-spending visitors, but the size of the effect is genuinely disputed — …
Reform the planning system to fast-track housing and infrastructure on brownfield sites — helps. Fast-tracking brownfield development could create construction jobs and boost local economies in deprived regions, but the effect on pay levels and job security is indirect and speculative, and the po…
Green — 16 policies affect this: 8 helps · 6 mixed · 1 little effect · 1 hurts. Compare interactively →
Strengthen and expand public NHS services — helps. The policy commits to immediate pay rises for NHS staff and capital investment that could improve working conditions, which evidence links to better retention and workforce stability. However, the pay…
Introduce free personal social care and reform the care workforce — helps. This policy would establish national pay and career structures for care workers, who are among the lowest-paid workers in the UK — that should raise wages and reduce exploitation. The main risk is whe…
Strengthen workers' rights and trade union powers — helps. This policy would give millions of workers stronger rights from day one — including protection from unfair dismissal, sick pay, and guaranteed hours — and make it easier for unions to strike. The main…
Expand pay-gap protections and support flexible working — helps. Extending pay-gap reporting to ethnicity, disability and other characteristics shines a light on real gaps — disabled workers earn 12.7% less and some ethnic groups earn significantly less than White …
Invest in early years education and childcare — helps. Expanding childcare hours and reinvesting in Sure Start-style centres is projected to help parents — especially mothers — work more and earn more, while giving disadvantaged children a better start th…