A living wage in Warrington?

TOWN Hall bosses at Warrington are being asked to approve a review into the implications for the town of the national “Living Wage” campaign.
A report to be presented to next week’s meeting of the borough council’s executive board by Cllr Russ Bowden (pictured),executive member for corporate resources, recommends the review be carried out by the council’s organisational development and improvement policy committee.
Since 2001, the Living Wage Foundation has been campaigning for public and private organisations to set their lowest hourly pay rate to the “living wage” rate.
This is an independently set, annually updated figure which is intended to ensure workers earn enough to provide their families with the essentials of life.
Currently, the rate for organisations outside London, calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, is currently £7.45 per hour, compared with the minimum wage of £6.19.
The campaign encourages employers to choose to pay the “Living Wage” on a voluntary basis.
Living Wage campaigners claim there are benefits to both employers and employees, including a significant positive impact on recruitment and retention levels, higher worker morale, etc. They say more than 15,000 families have been lifted out of working poverty as a result of the Living Wage.
The review would explore pay levels across major public and private sector bodies in Warrington and assess, as far as possible, the impact on the town’s economy and the feasibility of a “Warrington Living Wage.”
But the report notes that implementing the Living Wage would be a significant cost to organisations and stresses that the review should consider the on-going commercial viability of services as current contracts could be compromised if salary costs increased.
The views of public, private and third sector organisations, including schools, should be considered.