• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

MayorWatch

London News and Comment

  • NEWS
  • Twitter

London Living Wage Increases to £7.45 Per Hour

July 10, 2008 - Staff

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has confirmed that all Greater London Authority employees and those working for new GLA contractors are to paid the new London Living Wage of £7.45 per hour.

The London Living Wage has been calculated yearly for each of the past four years and recognises the higher costs of living in the capital which are not reflected in the National Minimum Wage. All GLA staff are currently paid the 2007 Living Wage rate of £7.20 per hour.

Today’s announcement marks a major change of policy for City Hall’s Conservatives. Last June former Mayor Ken Livingstone clashed with Conservative members of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority after they voted against plans to pay cleaners the then Living Wage of £7.20.

At the time Brian Coleman, now Chair of the LFEPA, claimed: “Paying London Fire Station cleaners the London Living wage of £7.20, as Labour’s Val Shawcross suggested, is just ridiculous. A wage hike to those levels is equivalent to the cost of running four stations.”

In a statement issued this afternoon Mayor Johnson said “there is too much poverty and depravation” in the capital and that he wants “City Hall to lead by example by ensuring its staff can maintain a decent standard of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Therefore I have made it clear to all parts of the organization that I expect the Living Wage to be the basic standard.”

The Mayor’s announcement has been backed by Megan Dobney, Regional Secretary for the TUC in London, who said unions were “pleased that Boris Johnson has committed to the continued implementation of the policy throughout the GLA Group.”

A number of major corporations including Barclays, KPMG, Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers have adopted the London Living Wage.

Barclays Employee Relations Director Dominic Johnson said the company “believe that people who work for our contractors, whether cleaners, security staff or in other roles, all contribute to our customers’ experience of Barclays. Fair pay means motivated staff who stay working at Barclays longer. Improving people’s standard of living makes business sense.”

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Tagged With: London living wage

RECENT UPDATES

Tube and rail users to benefit from Oyster weekly fares cap

Mayor and TfL call on ministers to help plug funding gap

Tube to get full mobile phone coverage from 2024

TfL says Direct Vision Standard is already making HGVs safer for London road users




POPULAR

City Hall to move to Docklands as Mayor seeks to raise £55m for frontline services

‘Concern’ over TfL’s ability to deliver major projects in wake of Crossrail cost overruns

City Hall halts London Overground ticket office closures but many will still see opening hours reduced

Transport for London confirms bus cuts will go ahead despite passenger opposition

GOT A STORY?

As the original London news and scrutiny site we've been casting an eye over the capital's public services and politicians since 1999.

 

Many of our top stories started with a tip-off from a reader - if you've got something you'd like us to cover get in touch and we'll do the rest.

Stay In Touch

  • E-mail
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy