Barking and Dagenham Council introduce highest Living Wage in Britain

Barking and Dagenham Council have tonight agreed to implement a living wage of £9 an hour for all staff – believed to be the highest living wage introduced by any local authority in Britain. This increase from £8.30 will benefit 1,525 staff currently employed by the council – most of whom live in the borough. Workers will begin to see this increase in their wages as of the March pay check but the Council will also be back dating this pay increase to January 1^st. Announcing the change, Council Leader Liam Smith said:

“As a responsible employer, this Labour administration is delighted to be able to reward our hard working staff with a pay increase they deserve. This increase will help people who are currently struggling during hard times but are still doing their best to balance the books. I, along with the rest of the Labour Group, value the work that our staff do day in day out and feel they should be properly paid for it. This increase to £9 an hour minimum will help individuals such as cleaners, dinner ladies and teaching assistants. These are the type of people who did not cause the recession but are facing tough times because of it and anything we as a Council can do to the help them we will. As the largest employer in the borough we hope we are setting a marker for other employers to follow.”