Displaying items by tag: living wage

280,000 social care workers are in insecure and low-paid work, leaving them vulnerable to Covid-19. A petition has been launched appealing for Matthew Hancock to provide funding so that all social care sector staff can be paid the Real Living Wage of £10.75 an hour in London and £9.30 in the rest of the UK. Dr John Sentamu said, ‘It is morally wrong to put our care workers on the front line in the face of infection and potential death, with limited personal protective equipment, and to do that for poverty pay. I hope that if this epidemic teaches us anything, it will be to draw us back to justice, compassion and love. That is why I am proud to support the campaign for the Government to prioritise the proper funding of social care, ensuring that every care worker will get paid a Real Living Wage.’

Sixty-five religious leaders have written a letter to the Times supporting the real Living Wage. They include twenty Catholic and Anglican bishops, a Roman Catholic archbishop, thirty Jewish rabbis, the president and vice-president of the Methodist Church, and the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain. The letter cites concern at low pay and in-work poverty 'which is damaging family life and robbing future generations of a secure and stable home'. It comes as celebrations are planned with 4,700 employers accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, which oversees the real Living Wage (currently £8.75) and the London Living Wage (currently £10.20) - set to rise in line with the real cost of living. Research has found that one in five workers is paid less than a real Living Wage, meaning millions are struggling to stay afloat financially as their wages don't meet the real cost of living.