Where you live can cost £400-a-week in lost wages
WORKERS in some areas of the UK are earning more than double those in the worst-paid regions.
Richmondshire in North Yorkshire has the country’s lowest pay at just £377 a week – less than half the £771 salary earned by employees in Westminster, London.
The disparity is a stark example of the “levelling up” problem faced by the Government, according to employment experts.
And the pay disparities will do little to help the Government’s aims to “build back better”.
Andrew Speke, of the High Pay Centre, which campaigns for fair salaries, said: “The current state of pay is too imbalanced in the direction of market value, prestige of role rather than on other factors such as how hard the work is or socially useful.
“The lockdowns really shone a light on which work is most essential for society to function – but also the low pay, long hours and risk to health many people working these jobs endure. Build back better is a nice sounding slogan but one that the government will struggle to live up to.”
Dominates
The UK average weekly pay is £504 a week, found analysis of official data from every local authority by employment security experts Digital ID.
Gwynedd in Wales has the secondlowest wages, with workers on an average of £386.40 a week.
Torridge in Devon has the fourthlowest earnings – £393.10.
Devon dominates the list of regions with the lowest pay, with West Devon and North Devon also experiencing some of the lowest pay in the country.
Pendle in Lancashire, North Norfolk and Craven in North Yorkshire have some of the lowest weekly wages, with the areas earning £398.60, £399.30 and £399.40 a week.
At the other end of the scale, Westminster enjoys the highest pay in the UK, with workers bringing in on average £771 a week – nearly £300 more than the average.
The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea has the second-highest wages, with residents earning an average
weekly salary of £767. Elsewhere in the capital – which boasts 10 of the top 15 – Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham and Richmond upon Thames enjoy some of the best wages, with residents bringing in £746.70, £714.50 and £669.50 a week.
Adam Bennett, of Digital ID, which undertook the research, said: “With inflation soaring to the highest point in 30 years and National Insurance on the rise, the UK is experiencing a seri
ous cost of living crisis. The average household, saddled with enormous utility bills, will find it particularly hard to manage soaring costs.
“The fact that in some areas, people earn more than double that of workers in the country’s worst-paid areas, shows we have a long way to go towards addressing the causes of poverty and what keeps workers trapped in a cycle of low pay.”
St Albans, Hertfordshire, is the first place outside London to appear in the top 15 best-paid areas. It ranks seventh, with an average £684 a week.
South Cambridgeshire was 11th in the poll, with an average £667 weekly. Wokingham, Surrey, came fifteenth at £658 a week.
Campaigners have called for an increase in the minimum wage to £10 an hour to help towards pay equality.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it will rise to £9.50 from April.