London living wage to rise faster than inflation to break through £10 per hour for first time
Thousands of Londoners will enjoy a pay rise today with the London living wage to rise above £10 per hour for the first time.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will today announce the rise from £9.75 to £10.20 per hour. The independently-calculated living wage aims to set a value based on what people need to get by. It is higher in the capital.
Employees of firms who have signed up to the voluntary scheme will see their pay rise by 4.6 per cent in the next year, well above inflation as well as wage growth across the UK. Inflation hit three per cent in the year to September, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Read more: DEBATE: Should the government compel firms to pay the London Living Wage?
The London living wage scheme now counts more than 1,500 businesses in the capital, with 470 added in the last year.
Over the last year City firms UBS and Societe Generale have pledged to meet the pay standard. Other new additions this year have included Lush, the National Gallery, Somerset House, the Southbank Centre.
Khan also noted the ethnic pay gap remains “unacceptably high”, with a median wage for white workers at £16.23 per hour, compared to £13.46 per hour for all black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups.
Khan, 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 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.”
Read more: Has the National Living Wage opened a Pandora’s box of state wage setting?