Stockport Labour Group has called on Liberal Democrat-run Stockport Council to introduce a voluntary Living Wage Charter for local businesses to commit themselves to pay workers the Living Wage.
The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK, and currently stands at £7.85 per hour. The statutory minimum wage is currently £6.50 per hour.
There are 558,000 people in the North-West who are paid less than the Living Wage, the largest number in any region outside of London.
Stockport Labour Group Leader Councillor Alex Ganotis said ‘61% of businesses in the UK already pay a Living Wage to all directly employed staff, and they experience benefits in lower staff turnover, improved productivity, reduced absence rates and improved morale in the workplace.
‘It’s important that the Council does all it can to ensure that people who work hard are paid enough to maintain a decent standard of living.
‘Since 2010 pay has not kept pace with rising prices and, on top of cuts to benefits, this has left local families an average of £1,600 per year worse off. Encouraging as many employers as possible to pay the Living Wage to employees is one of the ways we can change this.’
The Living Wage is set by the Living Wage Foundation, a grassroots campaign independent of the Government’s Low Pay Commission which is responsible for setting the level of the minimum wage.
A number of other Local Authorities are already promoting the Living Wage. Birmingham City Council have introduced a charter for contractors and other local employers to sign-up to, whilst the York Living Wage City Coalition has brought together responsible business, the voluntary sector and the City of York Council to increase coverage of the Living Wage.
Brent Council and the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London have gone even further, with a business rate discount for major employers who to commit to paying the Living Wage.
The Living Wage Commission, chaired by Archbishop of York Dr. John Sentamu and published over the summer, had as one of its central recommendations that ‘central and local government should support the Living Wage by championing it to employers across the UK’.
Nationally there are 5.2 million employees in the UK paid below the Living Wage.