At last night’s Isle of Wight Council meeting, Labour councillor for Cowes North, Cllr Richard Quigley, proposed the council become an accredited Real Living Wage employer.
During questions to the Council Leader, Cllr Quigley (Lab) asked,
“In section 2.43 of the draft Island Planning Strategy, ‘The Issues We Face’, it states the laudable aim of increasing the average wage to £600 per week by 2027, does the leader agree that as a serious step towards and showing leadership, council should become an accredited real living wage employer and that a time limit should be set for all suppliers to commit to to doing the same.”
Peacey-Wilcox: Must understand impact on council’s wider financial position
Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox, replied,
“One of the Alliance’s aspirations is to help people out of poverty, but it is a complex challenge and likely to need a multi-agency approach for its achievement.
“Becoming a real living wage employer might be one approach that we could take addressing this challenge, but we must first understand the impact it would have on the council’s wider financial position.
“For example, it would be no good increasing the minimum wage paid to council and contractor employees if it had to be funded by the loss of a number of jobs or cuts to services needed by the community.”
Current lowest pay grade versus living wage
The leader went on to explain,
“The lowest pay grade for council employees in 2020/21 was £18,191, which at £9.45 an hour and broadly comparable with the real living wage of £9.50 an hour in that year and likely to exceed it when the pay award for the current year is finally agreed.
“The difference between the real living wage and the current national living wage is £0.59p an hour, £23.6 a week or £1,227.2 a year. The council will pay £0.5m to providers of adult social care to accommodate the increase in the national living wage this year. The likely cost of increasing that still further to the real living wage in this sector alone would be in the order of £1.5m per annum.”
Work required to avoid a negative impact
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox finished by saying,
“I am not saying we would not want to do this, just that we need to consider it carefully and in the round; setting it against all of the other competing priorities for council funding from our limited financial resources.
“I am grateful that you have agreed to assist the Alliance administration by leading a piece of work on community wealth building and I wonder if, as part of that work, you would also consider the impact of your proposal for the council to become a real living wage employer on the council and the wider economy.”
You can find out more about the Real Living Wage via the Living Wage Foundation.
Image: Images Money under CC BY 2.0
