Robert Jenrick denies 'hard work bonus' would remove funding from public services but admits £5bn cost 'is expensive'
Speaking with LBC on Sunday, the Reform MP insisted his party would “clamp down” on any abuse of a proposed £5bn tax break
Robert Jenrick has denied a proposed tax giveaway described by Reform UK as a 'hard work bonus' would remove funding from public services.
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The party's announced plans to scrap taxes on overtime, should it win the next general election. Labour and the Conservatives warn the policy could take money away from the NHS and schools.
Speaking with LBC on Sunday, the Reform UK MP insisted his party would “clamp down” on any abuse of a proposed £5bn tax break for workers doing extra hours.
The proposed policy would create a tax-free allowance for overtime above a 40-hour week for workers earning less than £75,000.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the plan would “restore the appeal of a strong work culture”, with overtime becoming tax-free for 90% of employees.
But critics have claimed the move is nothing more than a gimmick, with Jenrick admitting "it’s expensive".
The party said it could meet the expected £5 billion annual cost of the policy through a £40 billion package of cuts and savings.
Speaking with Ben Kentish on Sunday, Jenrick insisted "we want to reward people who are working the hardest in this country".
Responding to the suggestion that employers could decide to pay workers’ first 40 hours at minimum wage and then pay overtime at an exorbitant rate, Mr Jenrick told Sky News in a separate interview: “We don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. There will be anti-avoidance measures in place.”
The Reform Treasury spokesman added: “We’ve allocated £5 billion to this and that includes an apportionment for some reclassification of unpaid overtime to paid overtime, so we expect there will be some changes within the labour market, but if there is gaming of this, if there’s abuse, then obviously we’ll clamp down on that and we’ll work with HMRC and the Treasury when we enter government to make sure that we get that right.”
Both Labour and the Tories questioned where Reform would find the money.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones told explained: “When you’re in the Reform Party you can create fiction as much as you like.
“I can offer you, if I was in Reform, to save you £500 a year on your tax but how am I going to pay for the NHS, cuts to its budget, as a consequence?”
Mr Jenrick denied Reform would “cut the NHS” and specified the party would make savings in welfare.
“No more welfare for migrants, no more welfare for people who are choosing not to be in work,” he said.
Reform has aimed the plan at attracting more voters in Labour’s former industrial heartlands as it seeks to prevent Andy Burnham winning the Makerfield by-election.
It said a warehouse worker at the South Lancashire Industrial Estate in the seat working six hours of overtime a week would be £700 a year better off as a result of the tax break.
A Band 3 prison officer at HMP Hindley in the constituency working eight hours of overtime a week could be £1,300 better off, Reform added.