The UK living wage has been raised 20p to £7.85 across the UK, and from £8.80 to £9.15 per hour in London.
The living wage, which is an hourly rate based on the amount needed to cover the basic lost of living in the UK as estimated by the Living Wage Foundation, is 21% higher than the national minimum wage.
Rhys Moore, Director, Living Wage Foundation commented on the increase, saying:
“As the recovery continues it’s vital that the proceeds of growth are properly shared. It’s not enough to simply hope for the best. It will take concerted action by employers, government and civil society to raise the wages of the 5 million workers who earn less than the Living Wage.”
The living wage has been adopted by a number of large companies across the country, but some businesses complain that they would struggle to maintain competitive if they paid higher wages to their workers.
Accounting firm KPMG estimates that 22% of workers in the UK, 5.28 million people, earned less than the living wage in 2013, up from 21% in 2012 – an increase it described as a “worrying trend”:
“The latest figure indicates that 22 percent of employees now earn less than the Living Wage – up from 21 percent, last year.
“Although the rise sounds modest, in real terms it equates to 147,000 people. The data also belies a worrying trend which sees part-time, female and young workers as the most likely to earn a wage that fails to provide a basic but decent standard of living.”
