More than 200,000 UK workers get Christmas pay rise in line with real living wage
More than 200,000 employees from major UK companies are set for a pre-Christmas pay rise thanks to the “real living wage” campaign.
Businesses signed up to the campaign will raise its London employees’ hourly wages by 20p to £10.75.
Read more: Sajid Javid promises to increase nationa living wage to £10.50
Meanwhile, the hourly rate will increase by 30p to £9.30 for workers in the rest of the UK.
The pay rise will effect 210,000 workers, according to the Living Wage Foundation.
The campaign was started in 2011 and has 6000 businesses who agree to pay the hourly wage set by the foundation.
Companies involved include Crystal Palace Football Club, Aviva, Lush, Hiscox, London City Airport, Burberry and West Ham United Football Club.
Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said: “Good businesses know that the real living wage means happier, healthier and more motivated workers, and that providing workers with financial security is not only the right thing to do, but has real business benefits.”
The foundation’s real living wage is separate from the government’s national living wage, which is the statutory minimum wage for over-25s and is set at £8.21 an hour for the entire UK.
The Living Wage Foundation said Londoners on the real living wage earn £5,000 more a year than if they were on the government’s living wage.
Meanwhile, people outside of London earn £2,000 more a year under the real living wage.
Analysis from IHS Markit for KPMG found 5.2 million workers are paid under the foundation’s real living wage level.
Read more: Jobs paying below real living wage falls to seven-year low
West Ham United vice chairman Karren Brady said: “The London living wage helps to ensure that we can support our staff at a time when we know the cost of living is rising across the country, not just in the capital.
“As such, we made a decision in 2015 to extend the initiative to staff based outside of London, in our retail stores across Essex.”