Living Wage Week – new rates announced
07 November 2017
The rate of the Living Wage for London has increased from £9.75 to £10.20 per hour and for the rest of the UK the rate has increased from £8.45 to £8.75.
At least 150,000 UK workers are set for a pay rise; the increases represent a 4.6% rise in London and a 3.6% rise in the rest of the UK.
The UK rate is £1.25 per hour more than the minimum wage (for over 25s) and the London Living Wage is £2.70 more an hour.
The Living Wage rates are independently calculated, based on the real cost of living in the UK and London. The 2017 increases have been largely driven by higher inflation feeding through to the basket of goods and services that underpin the rates, with rising private rents and transport costs also having an impact.
The Living Wage Foundation has also announced that Heathrow airport will become the first Living Wage airport. This recognition will see the UK’s largest airport ensure 3,200 airport workers are paid the Living Wage by the end of 2020 and marks a significant milestone in the airport’s long term plan for sustainable growth.
Heathrow airport join over 3,600, employers across the UK, including a third of the FTSE 100, household names IKEA, Aviva, Nationwide, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs and Google, as well as thousands of small businesses, who are choosing to pay the real Living Wage to ensure all staff, including onsite contractors, earn a wage that meets the real cost of living.
More than 1,000 employers have signed up to pay the real Living Wage since Living Wage Week last year, including companies as diverse as LUSH, Diageo, Landsec, Arriva Rail, Rambert and Slush Puppie.
Living Wage rates are being launched at events across the UK during Living Wage Week (5 to 11 November 2017), in Edinburgh by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, in Cardiff by First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, and being welcomed by metro Mayors of Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Find out what happens in Living Wage Week and how you can get involved.