The Institute for Public Policy Research is calling on Ministers to introduce a higher minimum wage for London of £6.50 per hour.
A report by the Institute shows the gap between the lowest paid workers and average wages in the capital to be wider than anywhere else in the country.
The call comes ahead of the interim report from the London Child Poverty Commission, to be launched next week by London Mayor, Ken Livingstone and London Councils.
Every year Mr Livingstone publishes the ‘London Living Wage’ – the hourly wage Londoner’s need to earn to avoid poverty – which this year was calculated to be £7.20 per hour.
The London Living Wage has been adopted by some of London’s biggest companies including KPMG.
Speaking in April Ian Tew, Head of Workplace at KPMG said the company had “ensured since March 2006 that all cleaners who, although employed by third parties, work at our London offices have the appropriate London Living Wage employment conditions plus allowance for inflation.”
Earlier this year a row broke out between the Mayor and Conservative members of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority over a proposal to pay fire station cleaners at the higher rate.
The IPPR has called on Government to “recognise the exceptional circumstances in London with a specific minimum wage rate for the capital but should reject a full scale regionalisation of the National Minimum Wage.”
Kate Stanley, ippr Head of Social Policy, said “if the Government is serious about tackling the gap between rich and poor but reluctant to tax higher earners, a higher minimum wage in London – where average wages and living costs are significantly higher than across the rest of the country – must be part of the solution”
