The real living wage

There is no legal obligation to pay the real Living Wage. Employers can choose to pay it on a voluntary basis.

The real Living Wage is independently calculated each year based on the recommendations of what employees and their families need to live on. The current UK Living Wage is set at £8.45 per hour whilst the London Living Wage is £9.75 per hour. Organisations offering the real Living Wage make that choice to take a stand to ensure that their employees can earn a wage which is enough to live on. The real Living Wage is published to anyone from the age of 18 upwards which is a significant difference in both age and pay rate to the government minimum of £7.20 per hour for over 25s.

According to the Living Wage Foundation, results of an independent study show that 80%+ of London Living Wage employers believe that their commitment to the real Living Wage had enhanced the quality of work produced. On average employees paid the real Living Wage earn roughly £345 a week more than those on the National Minimum Wage, and £95 a week more in London.

In the last two years, the number of legal employers who commit to the real Living Wage has risen roughly three-fold. A total of 91 law firms, barristers chambers and legal industries have signed up to the scheme. This brings the total number of accredited organisations close to the 3,000 mark with lawyers at the forefront.

This content is correct at time of publication