Calls for key workers to be given a wage rise

Hundreds of thousands of key workers considered critical to the UK’s response to the coronavirus crisis are earning below the so-called “real living wage”, data suggests.

One in five UK employees earn below the Living Wage Foundation rates, including hundreds of thousands of key workers such as hospital cleaners and porters, teaching assistant sand carers.

The real living wage is a voluntary scheme devised by the Foundation, calculated independently from the Government and based on costs such as food, clothing and household bills – an estimated £9.30 an hour for those working outside London.

Figures show that in Sunderland there are an estimated 23,000 jobs below the real living wage in 2019 and 39,000 in County Durham.

The Government raised the National Living Wage to £8.72 an hour from April 1.

The GMB union said the crisis had shone a light on the “rock-bottom pay” of the people “expected to risk their health to protect us ”, calling for wages to be raised.

Lola McEvoy, GMB Union Organiser, said: “Millions of the lowest paid in the UK have been recognised as COVID-19 key workers.

“This crisis has inadvertently shone a light on the rockbottom pay and miserly terms and conditions of the people we now expect to risk their health to protect us.

“It’s simply wrong that over three million of the most vital jobs in our society pay so little that those doing them live with the compounding stress of spiral ling into debt.

“All key workers including cleaners, carers, teaching assistants and hospital porters, must be respected with a real living wage and decent contractual terms that reflect their undisputable societal value.”