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London Living Wage increases to £9.15

The UK Living Wage, an hourly rate based on the amount needed to cover basic living costs, has been raised by 35p in London to £9.15 .

The UK average Living Wage has been raised by 20p to £7.85, and is not 21% higher than the National Minimum Wage which is currently set at £6.50.

The living wage has been adopted by more than 1,000 employers across the country, benefiting 35,000 workers.

Businesses who have signed up to the voluntary scheme include Barclays, Standard Life, the National Portrait Gallery, as well as many local councils and charities.

Citizens UK, the community organisation behind the Living Wage project, said the number of companies paying the rate had more than doubled in the past year.

Despite this rise, 22% of the working population earn less than the 2013 Living Wage - which was set at £7.65 an hour, according to a report by accounting firm KPMG.

It said more than five million people were paid below that rate, and that women were more likely to earn less than men.

Labour MP Alan Milburn, the chairman of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, said: “This research is further proof that more workers are getting stuck in low paid work with little opportunity for progression,”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .