0333 321 3021

FacebookYouTubeFlickrTwitter

Policy Briefing - The Living Wage and Local Authorities from LGiU

17 Jan 2013 - 16:37 by michelle.foster

Local Government Information Unit have produced a briefing on the Living Wage and how it relates to local government.

The briefing covers:

A ‘what, why, who and where’ of the Living Wage
An update on the Living Wage and Local Authorities
A short comment on where next for the Living Wage

The briefing may be of use to all councillors and council officers working to tackle
poverty and reduce inequality in their areas. It may be of particular interest to those who are working on local authority pay and procurement.

What is the Living Wage?

The Living Wage in London is currently £8.55 per hour. Everywhere else in the UK it is currently £7.45 per hour. It is set independently by the Living Wage Unit of the Greater London Authority for London and by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University for the rest of the UK. It is uprated annually in Living Wage Week in November. Unlike the National Minimum Wage (currently set at £6.19/hour), the Living Wage is not a statutory requirement but a voluntary undertaking.

To be accredited as an official Living Wage Employer (of which there were 96 in the UK as of 5 November 2012), an organisation must satisfy four basic criteria:
• pay all of its own staff at least the Living Wage;
• commit that within six months of the annual uprating of the Living Wage, its pay rates will be uprated accordingly
• demonstrate progress towards requiring any contractors it has to do the same
• have a plan in place to work with any remaining contractors to get them too to pay the Living Wage.

To read the briefing see attached.
 

AttachmentSize
Microsoft Office document icon Living Wage - Policy Briefing.doc48.5 KB
Shared Topic Areas: