The minimum London living wage is now £7.05 per hour, but about one in seven London employees receive less than £6.15 per hour, a report has revealed.
The Living Wage for London was first calculated at £6.70 in April 2005 by the mayor of London’s Living Wage Unit.
Its second report, A Fairer London – The Living Wage in London, deals with both the living wage and the youth/apprentice living wage, which it sets at £6.
The increase from £6.70 last year reflects the rise in annual inflation and utility bills, according to mayor Ken Livingstone.
“Low-paid workers in London have been affected by inflation and particularly the high gas and electricity price rises. The living wage is not just a matter of welfare or social justice,” he said.
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Mick Connolly, regional secretary of the Southern and Eastern Regional TUC, said the report highlighted the need for employers to go beyond the national minimum wage. “This scandal of low wages and in-work poverty that exists for so many working people is often overlooked in London,” he said.
“And it makes a clear case for employers in the region to pay a living wage, going beyond the national minimum wage requirements to take London’s workers out of the poverty that contributes to social exclusion, ill health and exploitation.”
