An increase by 25p (to £8.55) to the London Living Wage has been announced today by Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Labour Leader at City Hall, Len Duvall has criticised the Mayor for not doing more to promote the London Living Wage to all employers across the capital. Cleaners working for Transport for London and security staff in the Metropolitan Police, both of which fall under the Mayor’s remit, are only being paid National Minimum Wage.
At October’s Mayor’s Question Time, the Mayor was questioned about staff members in the Greater London Authority Group not being paid the London Living Wage. He said this was due to a contract drawn up in 2005, which is not yet up for renewal. The Mayor pledged in 2008 that he would only promote hotels which accredited living-wage employers during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. But Holiday Inn, an official partner for the Games is not a living wage employer and neither are many of the other hotels VisitLondon promote. Adult poverty in Inner London has increased and 34 per cent of people in Inner London are living in povertyThere are 680,000 adults in London living in in-work poverty. This number has risen 17% (over 100,000 people) since 2009
Leader of the Labour Group on the London Assembly Len Duvall said:
“The Mayor claims to have championed the Living Wage in London, but there’s been no increase in the proportion of jobs paying LLW since 2005. The Mayor’s Living Wage Campaign has so far tackled just 1.3% of the problem.
“We welcome the announcement today that the London Living Wage will increase as private sector rents have risen over 8 per cent last year and energy prices are rising by 11 per cent. The Mayor’s fare increases are literally a tax on working people. The London Living Wage is necessary for survival as life is becoming more expensive and there is less help available as the welfare bill is cut by £18billion.
“The Mayor should be doing more to encourage employers to pay the London Living Wage but we see little evidence of this. It’s such a small amount that could a massive difference. For companies in construction software, computing, banking and food production, signing up to the London Living Wage would cost less than 1% to their overall wage bills. The Mayor needs to do more then pay lip-service to the London Living Wage for Londoners the 680,000 adults in London living in in-work poverty.”