One in seven of London’s employees is paid at rates which leave their income below poverty levels, even taking into account benefits and tax credits, a report for London Mayor Ken Livingstone has found.
The first report of the Living Wage Unit, established by Livingstone as a manifesto commitment in 2004, calculates a ‘poverty threshold wage’ for living in London. It calculated this to be £5.80 an hour.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
The Unit says the reason the national minimum wage falls below poverty levels in London is largely because of the much higher housing costs.
From October, the national minimum wage will be raised to £5.05 per hour.
