5m UK workers paid less

London: One in five British workers and their families are likely to have inadequate standards of living because they are being paid less than the living wage, according to a study.

The research by the consultants KPMG found that 4.82 million workers have to survive on less than a living wage,currently £8.30 (Dh49.07) an hour in London and £7.20 in the rest of the country. The TUC described the findings as “shocking”.

The government has resisted campaigns to increase the current minimum wage of £6.19 to living wage levels, fearing that it would hit employment figures. It argues that it is a poorly targeted poverty measure.

But an increasing number of employers, notably the London mayor Boris Johnson, have introduced a living wage rate for their staff. According to KPMG’s study, the voluntary measure has helped 10,000 employees, and redistributed £96 million to the lowest paid.

The study, launched in advance of next week’s Living Wage Week, found that Northern Ireland has the highest proportion of people earning below the living wage (24 per cent), followed by Wales at 23 per cent. The lowest proportion of sub-living wage earners are in London and the south-east, both at 16 per cent. It found that at least 70 per cent of cleaners, kitchen staff and waiters and waitresses are were paid less than the living wage.

Some 41 per cent of low paid workers surveyed said that their finances are worse now than they were just one month ago.

Nearly half (47 per cent) expect their finances to be in a worse condition in a year’s time than now, slightly more than the 43 per cent of those earning above the living wage. And nearly a quarter (23 per cent ) feel that their job security has worsened, compared with 16 per cent of those earning above.