Why paying the London Living Wage is more important than ever

Cllr Kim Powell – Cabinet Member for Business, Jobs and Skills – shares her thoughts on why paying the London Living Wage is more important than ever.

Official figures released this week show inflation remains at its highest levels for 40 years. While we know everybody is feeling the pressure from rising costs, it tends to be the lowest paid workers who are hit the hardest. There are still too many people being paid below minimum wage in the borough. We want to change that.

Tackling in-work poverty to improve standards of living is fundamental to making Lewisham a fairer borough for all. Decent wages are at the heart of rebuilding our local economy. That’s why we’re calling on all those employers that can afford to pay the London Living Wage, to please adopt it.

In his budget today, the Chancellor announced an increase to the minimum wage. While this is welcomed – it does not go far enough to help employees through the current cost of living crisis and doesn’t include London weighting.

We’re proud that we were one of the first local authorities in the UK to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. All Council apprentices are paid the London Living Wage and in the past four years we’ve seen the number of accredited employers in the borough nearly double to 88.

This year we committed to working with Living Wage Foundation and Citizens UK to help accredit 100 more local businesses by 2026. We’re also aiming to turn Lewisham into a Living Wage Place – making it our mission to work with communities and businesses to tackle low pay.

We do appreciate these are challenging times for businesses too. But it’s interesting to hear from Living Wage employers across Lewisham who tell us unanimously that not only is paying their people fairly the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense.

Accredited businesses say they’ve benefited from improved reputation, a more motivated workforce, and higher retention of employees, while others say it helps differentiate them from competitors.

Paying the London Living Wage ensures our residents are paid enough to meet every day needs. It’s a lifeline in the face of the cost-of-living crisis so we urge local businesses to support their staff through these difficult times. As an incentive,?we’re offering a one-off discount of up to ￡6k on business rates ?for those who become accredited in this financial year.

We caught up with a local accredited employer and a Council apprentice who benefits from receiving the London Living Wage.

James Ross – Co-founder and Co-owner of Badger Badger in Deptford

“We pay the London Living Wage because it’s the decent thing to do. London is an expensive city and we want to ensure our team is able to provide for themselves and their families. But it’s not all about altruism. Paying a fair wage also makes good business sense, on two levels.

“Firstly, we’re seeing less staff turnover. People are happy so they’re staying with us for longer and we’re retaining that talent. On top of that, customers are also increasingly making decisions on who they spend money with, based on ethics. If a business does not treat its employees fairly, customers will simply vote with their wallets and go elsewhere.”

Mihaela Avram-Ipistatu – Trainee Family Information Service Communication Officer, Lewisham Council

“As an apprentice at the Council, getting paid the London Living Wage is a big help for me and my family. It means I can afford activities for the children and also to put a little bit aside so when unexpected things come up – like emergency trips to the dentist or new school shoes are needed – I don’t have to panic, I know I have the money to cover them. Having that peace of mind is priceless.”

Join the Living Wage movement now – visit our website for more information .