Case Studies

London Living Wage rise

by Mark Rowe

An increase by 25p (to £8.55) to the London Living Wage was announced in November by the Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Labour however criticised the Conservative Mayor for not doing more to promote the London Living Wage to all employers across the capital. Labour said that security staff in the Metropolitan Police, which fall under the Mayor’s remit, are only being paid National Minimum Wage – of £6.19 an hour, up from £6.08 the year before and £5.93 in 2010. Briefly, the London Living Wage is voluntary, and meant to reflect the higher cost of living in the capital.

At October’s Mayor’s Question Time, the Mayor was questioned about staff members in the Greater London Authority Group not being paid the London Living Wage. He said this was due to a contract drawn up in 2005, which is not yet up for renewal. Leader of the Labour Group on the London Assembly Len Duvall said: “The Mayor claims to have championed the Living Wage in London, but there’s been no increase in the proportion of jobs paying LLW since 2005. The Mayor’s Living Wage Campaign has so far tackled just 1.3pc of the problem.

“We welcome the announcement today that the London Living Wage will increase as private sector rents have risen over 8 per cent last year and energy prices are rising by 11 per cent. The Mayor’s fare increases are literally a tax on working people. The London Living Wage is necessary for survival as life is becoming more expensive and there is less help available as the welfare bill is cut by £18billion.

“The Mayor should be doing more to encourage employers to pay the London Living Wage but we see little evidence of this. It’s such a small amount that could a massive difference. For companies in construction software, computing, banking and food production, signing up to the London Living Wage would cost less than 1pc to their overall wage bills. The Mayor needs to do more then pay lip-service to the London Living Wage for Londoners the 680,000 adults in London living in in-work poverty.”

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