Following on from the recent announcement of the new rates that will apply for the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage from the 1st April 2022, the new rate for the Real Living Wage has just been announced by the Living Wage Foundation. The new rate for the London Living Wage has also been published.
The Real Living Wage
The Real Living Wage was increased on the 15th November 2021 by 40p per hour from £9.50 per hour to £9.90 per hour. The increase will apply with immediate effect. The new rate of £9.90 per hour means that the Real Living Wage is now £0.40 per hour higher than the new rate for the National Living Wage that will apply from the 1st April 2022, and £0.99 per hour higher than the current rate.
This means that a full-time worker on the new rate for the Real Living Wage will earn £1,930.00 more a year than one who is on the current rate for the National Living Wage.
London Living Wage
The new rate for the London Living Wage has also just been announced at the same time as the new rate for the Real Living Wage, with the new rate for the London Living Wage increasing by 20p from £10.85 per hour to £11.05 per hour. Again, the new rate will apply with immediate effect. Accordingly, the London Living Wage is now £1.55 per hour higher than the new rate for the National Living Wage that will apply from the 1st April 2022, and £2.14 per hour higher than the current rate.
This means that a full-time worker on the new rate for the London Living Wage will earn £4,173.00 more a year than one who is on the current rate for the National Living Wage.
Over 300,000 Real Living Wage Workers Will Receive A Pay Increase
Almost 9000 employers now pay the Real Living Wage and London Living wage, which means that over 300,000 employees will benefit immediately from the new rates in terms of pay Increases. Around 2000 additional employers have signed up and undertaken to pay the Real Living Wage and London Living Wage over the last year, and around 3000 additional employers have signed up since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The increase in the number of employers who now voluntarily pay the Real Living Wage and the London Living Wage has been considerable in just the last 6 years alone. Back in 2015, just 1300 employers, employing around 80,000 employees, paid the Real Living Wage and the London Living Wage. Of this number, 400 of the employers were based in London. By 2016, the number of employers nationawide who had signed up had increased to 3000
Research conducted by Cardiff Business School has calculated that workers have received an additional £1.6 billion as a result of the wage increases that the living wage campaign has brought about since 2001. Of that, an additional £613 million has been paid since the start of the coronavirus pandemic
Reaction
Reacting to the announcement of the new rates for the Real Living Wage and the London Living Wage, Katherine Chapman, the director of the Living Wage Foundation, stated: “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.”
Chapman added: "For the past 20 years the Living Wage movement has shaped the debate on low pay, showing what is possible when responsible employers step up and provide a wage that delivers dignity. 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. We know that the Living Wage is good for businesses as well as workers, and as we rebuild our economy post pandemic, the real Living Wage must be at its heart."
