New year pay boost for Walsall Council staff
Hundreds of Walsall Council workers are set to get a pay rise in the new year.
The authority’s personnel committee rubber-stamped the move just before Christmas to maintain its commitment to ensuring staff receive the ‘Living Wage’ – the informal benchmark which is above the national minimum wage and takes into account the cost of a basic living.
It means from April around 330 full-time workers and 340 casual workers will benefit from a 3.4 per cent pay increase.
The scheme applies to staff who receive less than the Living Wage, which from 2018/19 will increase to £8.75 an hour outside of London.
It entitles them to an extra allowance which bumps their income up to the standard.
The council has committed to the Living Wage since 2015 reviewing it every year.
Conservative group leader Councillor Mike Bird, who sits on the personnel committee, stated the move has generally received cross-party support.
He said: “It is an annual thing we do and it is the right thing to do.
“We (The Conservatives) said we were going to do it originally but lost control to the Labour Party who followed through with it.
“It has got cross-party support.
“It is only fair the people who earn the lowest incomes, and see others earning hundreds of thousands of pounds, are looked after as well.”
It will cost the council and extra £155,000 in next year’s budget to provided the uplift.
The Living Wage is currently calculated by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission.
It takes into account studies by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University which identifies a core basket of goods needed for a minimum standard of living.
It is then combined with an analysis of the actual cost of living including essentials such as rent, council tax, childcare, transport to produce the Living Wage figure.
It is currently £8.45 and has risen from £7.85 since the council introduced it in April 2015. By comparison the national minimum wage for people aged over 25 is £7.50 an hour and will increase to £7.83 from April. It is estimated to be £9 by April 2020.
