Real Living Wage is to increase by 10% to reflect the cost of living crisis and the Living Wage Foundation said rate are to increase to £12 an hour outside of London and in London employers will pay £13.15 an hour which is an increase of £1.20.
From Tuesday the foundation said the 10% rise reflects the “persistently high costs” for fed up low-paid workers.
Under the 10% pay rise a full time worker will now earn an extra £3,081 per year and in London staff will earn an additional £5,323.
Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said: “As inflation eases, we cannot forget that low-paid workers remain at the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis.
“Low-paid workers continue to struggle with stubbornly high prices because they spend a larger share of their budget on food and energy.
“These new rates are a lifeline for the 460,000 workers who will get a pay rise.”
Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “This is good news for hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers whose employers do the right thing. That’s pay them a decent wage.
“But many more providing essential public services will miss out. These employees include care workers, who’re often on poverty pay, in a sector already struggling to fill record vacancies.
“Today’s increase means thousands of workers employed by the NHS on the lowest pay bands – like porters, cleaners, domestics and security staff – will be significantly short of the new rate.
“The Government must follow suit and boost the minimum wage so millions are better able to weather the cost-of-living pressures causing such deep financial pain.”
Tristan Thomas, CEO of Packfleet, the all-electric courier, who is the ex-VP of Marketing at Monzo, he welcomes the Real Living Wage increase, saying, “Any company that prescribes to the Real Living Wage should be happy about this increase, because the RLW is doing exactly what it was created to do – increase with the true cost of living. People need to be paid a wage that meets their everyday needs, and as those needs have become more and more expensive, wages must increase. This shouldn’t be a debate.
“Joining the RLW movement has been one of our best decisions as a young business. It empowers our people with less stress through greater financial security – and we in turn gain a lot from it as an employer.
“It’s worth highlighting that the RLW is particularly important because of the industry we’re in. Far too often the people out on the roads delivering parcels are paid far too little, which isn’t right and is a big reason why the quality of service in the delivery industry has declined so much.
“We want to change this for our drivers – the people who are the face of Packfleet. They do a really tough job and deserve to be properly compensated for it, which is why we’re very proud to be part of the RLW movement.
“Whereas other delivery companies will pay drivers less to cut costs, we’re not about that. Instead, we’re developing technologies that are unlocking new efficiencies in last mile delivery. In our humble opinion, that’s how this industry should be reducing its costs for customers.”
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