Member

From speaking to apprentices, I know that they earn just £7.55 an hour—£5 an hour less than the national minimum wage—yet because they are paid for their training hours as well as their working hours, they will be dragged into paying income tax. These very young earners, who are at the very beginning of their time and should be being supported, will be paying tax because of the increase—the stealth tax—that we see. They simply do not feel like people who have the broadest shoulders. If the Government are looking to consider exemptions for groups, may I ask them to consider some of our youngest apprentices? They are the people least able to manage these additional burdens.