Living Wage Foundation welcomes pay rise for UK’s Poorest Workers, but urges employers to go further

This additional £1,794 could pay for:

• More than six months’ food and drink bills for an average household - £1,508
• Over a year’s average gas and electricity bills - £1,250
• Almost 3 months' average rent - £1,738

For workers in London the gap is even wider, with full-time workers earning the new government minimum set to earn £4,622 less than those earning the independently-calculated London Living Wage. These workers would need to work 84 more days to earn a real Living Wage, or nearly four months.

The gap between the government minimum and the real Living Wage is widest for young people aged 18-20. They would earn just £11,505 a year, or £5,558 a year less than a full-time worker of the same age earning a real Living Wage. They would need to work 135 extra days, or over six months longer, to earn a real Living Wage.

Tess Lanning, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: “We welcome any steps to close the gap between the government minimum and the wage employees and their families need to get by. But over 5.5 million workers still earn less than the real Living Wage calculated according to what people need to live. For these people, this is the difference between struggling to make ends meet and being able to cover the basics, from decent meals to heating bills, to the cost of a birthday cake for their children. The only way we will fully close the gap is for more businesses and organisations to voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage, not just the government minimum.”

www.livingwage.org.uk