Green Party advertise for policy assistant position at less than living wage

UPDATE: Some are claiming that the £17,000 salary works out at a rate above the London Living Wage for the hours offered. However, the yearly salary for a living wage is normally calculated on the basis of a 37.5 hour week, which the job role did not offer, despite being advertised as “full time”.

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Red faces for the Greens today, as it has emerged they have been advertising for a “policy assistant” position in their London headquarters – for less than the London living wage. Despite the party supporting an immediate raise of the minimum wage to living wage standards, and a further rise to £10 an hour by 2020, the full time job was advertised at a minimum £17,000 salary: around £1,000 under the London living wage.

A Green Party spokesperson underwhelmingly told The Times (£) that the move was “probably an oversight” – and now they have been called out the advert no longer appears to be on their website.

Labour MP John Spellar reacted to the news, saying: “No one will be surprised that yet again the Green party are caught out in hypocrisy.”

It’s not the only “oversight” with sums the Green Party have had. This emerges on the same day that the Greens announce that they have dropped plans for a “citizen’s income”, and the policy will not appear in their manifesto – a remarkable u-turn given their leader Natalie Bennett has twice appeared on television in recent weeks to defend the proposal. Grilled by Andrew Neil, Bennett claimed that the policy would be paid for by reductions in welfare administration.

However, on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, the Greens’ sole MP Caroline Lucas confirmed: “The citizens’ income is not going to be in the 2015 general election manifesto”.

Last week the Citizen’s Income Trust (CIT), who have advised the Green Party on policy, claimed that a citizen’s income would hit those on low incomes hardest. Their director Malcolm Torry said “I am not sure the Green Party has yet taken on our new research or the need to retain a means-tested element.”

They support a citizen’s income, but won’t offer one in their manifesto. They support a living wage, but don’t offer one in their office.