London Living Wage to rise by 45p to £10.20 an hour

London Living Wage increase: Sadiq Khan has announced it will go up to £10.20
Elliott Franks
Hatty Collier6 November 2017

The London Living Wage is to rise to £10.20 an hour, Sadiq Khan has announced.

The Mayor said the voluntary rate in the capital would increase by 45p. It will be above the Government's national living wage of £7.50 for over 25-year-olds.

More than 1,000 businesses in the capital are signed up to pay the voluntary rate including Ikea, Lloyds TSB and London's Borough Market.

Outside London, businesses who are signed up for the living wage will pay their employees £8.75 up by 30p from £8.45.

The living wage is separate from the Government's statutory National Living Wage which was introduced last year and is expected to rise to £9 per hour by 2020.

The Mayor said: "I pledged to ensure the London Living Wage rises to beyond £10 and I am delighted that has been achieved.

"I am determined to make London a fairer and more equal city, and the news that more than 1,500 businesses are paying the wage is a good step towards achieving that.

"But we need to go further - and for many more businesses and organisations to sign up.

"London is one of the most dynamic and prosperous economies in the world, but unfortunately this prosperity isn't shared by all Londoners.

"In the capital today, more than two million people are struggling to make ends meet and the ethnic pay gap is shockingly and unacceptably large."

Staff from the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton campaign for the living wage
Getty Images

Heathrow has become the first UK airport to accredit with the Living Wage Foundation, which sets the voluntary rates.

The foundation said the increases of 4.6 per cent in London and 3.6 per cent elsewhere have been largely driven by higher inflation, rising housing rents and transport costs.

The announcement follows new research by KPMG showing that 5.5 million people across the UK, or 21 per cent of the workforce, are still paid less than the voluntary rates.

Heathrow, which is among over 150 employers to agree recently to pay the higher rate, said 3,200 airport workers will be paid the voluntary living wage by 2020.

Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said: "The new rates will bring relief for thousands of UK workers being squeezed by stagnant wages and rising inflation.

"It's thanks to the leadership of over 3,600 employers across the UK who are committed to paying all their staff, including cleaners and security staff, a real living wage.

"Great businesses know that, even during these tough times, not only is fair pay the right thing to do but paying the real living wage brings big benefits.

"Nine out of 10 accredited living wage employers report real benefits including improved retention, reputation, recruitment and staff motivation."

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Extending the living wage is vital. Millions of people are living in poverty despite being part of working households

"These new rates would make a big difference to Britain's lowest-paid, and they would help families keep their heads above water."

She added that more companies still needed to sign up to pay their employees the living wage.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in