Dear Editor,
This week, thousands of Londoners will be given a pay boost with the increase of the voluntary London Living Wage to £10.85 an hour.
Over the last four years, the number of employers in the capital signed-up to the Living Wage Foundation’s scheme has doubled. As London begins its economic recovery from the second lockdown, I hope to see this number continue to rise.
After a decade of austerity, we have seen a worrying surge in in-work poverty and food insecurity. It is vital that we act now to close the widening gap between wage packets and the costs of living.
I welcome the Government’s recent announcement of the extension of the furlough scheme until March. However, the Chancellor must now put measures in place to ensure that furlough pay can no longer be allowed to fall below the minimum wage and that, as a starting point, the temporary uplift in Universal Credit payments is extended.
I am also backing the calls made by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that statutory sick pay should be increased from £95.85 to £320 per week to match the real national living wage.
Yours,
Unmesh Desai AM
London Assembly Member for City & East London
Notes to editors
- Unmesh Desai AM is the London Assembly Member for City and East (covering Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and the City of London).