Some incomes to rise as new Real Living Wage rates announced

Wages will be raised by as much as 40p an hour

Author: Rory GannonPublished 15th Nov 2021

New rates announced to the Real Living Wage are set to increase thousands of workers' income.

More than 300,000 people will see their wages go up as a result of the announcement.

Unlike the minimum wage which is set by the government, the Real Living Wage is the voluntary increased rate of pay set by the Living Wage Foundation.

As a result, people who work outside of London will see their hourly rate rise to £9.90, while those living and working in the capital getting £11.05 per hour, an increase of 20p and 40p respectively.

The rate is higher than the National Living Wage, which currently stands at £8.91 an hour. However, this rate will also increase to £9.50 in April, an increase of nearly 60p.

Over 9,000 employers across the UK are now paying employees the Real Living Wage, according to the Living Wage Foundation. One third of the employers were approved to pay Living Wages during the pandemic.

New companies that have signed up to the initiative include tech company Fujitsu, business firm Capita and food delivery service Getir.

In addition to this, figures from the foundation revealed that one in 13 people are now working for an accredited Living Wage employer.

Over 9,000 employers across the country pay their workers a Living Wage.

To help boost the income of workers, the Mayors of both London and Greater Manchester have also announced a commitment to set up Living Wage City Regions.

Despite the increase in pay, the foundation said that 4.8 millions jobs in the UK are paying less than the Real Living Wage.

Director of the foundation, Katherine Chapman, said: "With living costs rising so rapidly, today's new Living Wage rates will provide hundreds of thousands of workers and their families with greater security and stability.

"Despite this, there are still millions trapped in working poverty, struggling to keep their heads above water and these are people working in jobs that kept society going during the pandemic like social care workers and cleaners."

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