How the government is spending almost £5m advertising George Osborne's 'living wage'

Iain Duncan Smith was famously delighted by George Osborne’s announcement in last year’s Budget of a new compulsory ‘living wage’.

Labour politicians were far less impressed as it emerged that under-25s would be excluded from the compulsory level, with leadership hopefuls last year branding it a “con” and a “slap in the face for young people”.

And now the Lib Dems have found something else to be unhappy about, with the discovery that government has forked out almost £5m on ads for the National Living Wage campaign.

To hammer the point home, the Lib Dems have got their calculators out and established that the government’s advertising for the campaign would pay for 372 people’s wages for the next year.

A breakdown of the anticipated costs for the campaign advertising is as follows:

- Poster advertising £751,612.69

- TV and video on demand (VOD) £1,730,387.70

- Social media advertising £354,000

- Digital display advertising and Pay per click (PPC) £520,000

- Newspaper/magazine advertising £250,000

- Radio £299,826


Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said ministers were using public funds to push out a misleading mesage.

"Increasing the National Minimum Wage is a good thing, but pretending it is a Living Wage is farcical propaganda which undermines the campaign for a real Living Wage. Especially as the Government’s new rate doesn’t apply to young workers.

"It is deeply concerning that the Government is spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to push the Conservative political agenda ahead of the local elections. This is a bare faced attempt to use Government funds to promote the fiction that the Conservatives have delivered a living wage."


But a spokeswoman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, which is overseeing the National Living Wage, said:
"The government's new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from 1 April this year.
"Britain deserves a pay rise and the government is making sure it gets one."


http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/456891/how-the-government-is-spending-almost-5m-advertising-george-osborneand39s-and39living-wageand39.thtml






It's nowhere near a 'living wage', it's simply a slightly higher minimum wage, they must think we are mugs.