Calls for minimum wage boost

There have been renewed calls for a further increase in the minimum wage, it has emerged.

The findings of the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) have discovered that more than a million children in Britain are living in poverty, which has led the group to call for tougher enforcement of minimum wage levels.

According to ippr, the minimum wage level should move up in line with economic cycles.

Head of social policy at ippr Kate Stanley admitted that work had already been done to help poor families, but more focus is needed.

Tax credits and the minimum wage have made work pay relative to being on benefits but these don't yet go far enough to ensure more children are lifted out of poverty, she said.

The thinktank also recommended that all employees should have the right to request flexible working hours.

ClickAJob chief executive Yngve Traberg believes the recommendations should go further.

Satisfying only minimum levels perpetuates the problem, he says.

On the breadline, people are uninspired, concerned more with survival. They have little self respect and no positive vision of the future.

He emphasizes that people need incentives to acquire skills too. Incentives of real benefit, enough to shift aspirations.

Mr Traberg goes on. Skills are the light at the end of the tunnel, the competitive edge to getting a job. A job has prospects - and a reasonable chance of lifting families out of poverty.

By all means, lift the minimum wage. But make part of it conditional on acquiring a skill, and establishing the basis for a better future.