Appeal for living wage as people struggle to pay bills
PEOPLE living in Glasgow are skipping meals and missing mortgage payments due to a lack of money in their pockets, according to new figures.
A survey carried out by The Poverty Alliance revealed that one in three people from the city admitted to regularly skipping meals just to save money.
Around third also said they had fallen behind with household bills in the last year, 31 per cent had topped up their income with credit card or loan and just under a fifth of those asked had fallen failed to make payments towards their mortgage.
The figures also revealed that just under half of those asked earning less than £14,000 a year said stress over their finances was affecting their working life.
Peter Kelly, director of The Poverty Alliance, said people living in Scotland should not be experiencing this.
He said: “Our research paints a worrying picture of low earners scraping by, struggling to pay basic bills, skipping meals and feeling a lot of stress.
“In 2017, in a country like Scotland, that should not be the case.”
The findings also revealed that three quarters of those asked said more employers paying £8.45 an hour – the living wage – would raise Glaswegian’s living standards.
“We know from other surveys that increasing pay levels from the national minimum wage to a real living wage- a pay rise of up to £2000 a year for full-time workers – brings huge benefits to employees and employers, in terms of increased retention and better staff morale,” said Mr Kelly.
“The real living wage of £8.45 an hour has the backing of three in four Scots in the survey, and it has crossparty support in Scotland.
“Our survey also found that more than a third of people felt a real Living Wage could tackle child poverty, and the vast majority felt it made for happier, more productive employees.”
The survey of 1024 adults, carried out by Survation, included people of all income brackets ranging from 18 to 64-years-old.
Asked how they would spend the extra money if their employer start- ed to pay them the living wage, 44 per cent of low earners said they would save it.
Others said they would use it to pay off debts with some saying they would take part in more social activities.
Mr Kelly added that even though knowledge of the living wage was high among workers, more work needs to be done.
He added: “Since the alliance started the living wage accreditation programme in Scotland three years ago, we have signed up more than 780 employers.
It’s a voluntary programme and a simple process which we would urge employers of all size to consider.
“There is a long way to go to address in-work poverty for the estimated 467,000 low-paid people in our country.
“As this research shows, putting just a little bit more in people’s pockets could have positive impacts both socially and economically.”