A number of high profile businesses have signed up as living wage employers including the British Library, RSA Insurance and Curzon Cinemas. This comes after independently verified pay rates have risen by about 4% in London.
The Living Wage Foundation is an independent body that sets the living wage based on research by the Resolution Foundation and the Living Wage Commission in order to work out what people 
need to meet every day basic costs.
The benchmark for pay in London rises 35p to £9.75. The rest of the country rises at 2.4% to £8.45 an hour. Both rates are significantly above the “national living wage” introduced earlier this year at £7.20 an hour.
3,000 employers are now signed up to the scheme including Everton Football Club, Ikea and Lloyds Banking Group.
Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation said: “new living wage rates bring a welcome pay rise to thousands of workers across the UK. One in five people earn less than the wage they need to get by. That’s why it’s more important than ever for leading employers to join the growing movement of businesses and organisations that are going further than the government minimum and making sure their employees earn enough to cover the cost of living.”
“a fairer and more equal city”
Sadiq Khan announced the new rate at the British Library on Monday and said that more than 1,000 businesses are now living wage employers. He said he hoped that the rate would help London become “a fairer and more equal city”.
“Paying the London living wage is not just the right and moral thing to do, it makes good business sense too. As many employers already accredited know, the benefits are clear – including increased productivity and reduced staff turnover,” he said.
Khan also referenced Labour’s plans for a £10 an hour wage in the future. “I’m glad to say we’re well on track to see it rise to over £10 an hour during my mayoralty, but we need to go further and for many more businesses and organisations to sign up,” he said.
Fully accredited employers must make sure they apply the living wage to all staff members, including subcontractors and agency workers. Khan found that after auditing workers linked to City Hall that subcontractors were being paid less.
120,000 workers are said to have benefited since the campaign for a living wage began 15 years ago. The movement prompted the government to introduce a “national living wage” earlier this year which became the biggest minimum rate change since the minimum wage was first introduced in 1999.