Nearly half a million workers to get £2,145 pay rise as Real Living Wage rate hiked

Just under half a million workers on the real Living Wage are set for a pay increase of at least £1.10 an hour.

The real Living Wage is a voluntary rate. There are currently around 14,000 employers who have agreed to pay the rate, which means around 460,000 workers will get the new wage.

The new Living Wage will stand at £12 an hour nationally (a £1.10 increase) and £13.15 in London (a £1.20 increase). The real Living Wage has been increased by 10 per cent to reflect the increasing costs faced by low-paid workers, the Living Wage Foundation, which sets the rate, said.

Read more: Warning issued to anybody who has paid for a TV licence

Read more: 'I tried Martin Lewis' MSE '4p a week trick' for keeping warm in the winter without the heating'

Research from the Living Wage Foundation showed that 60 per cent of those earning below the real Living Wage visited a food bank at least once in the past year while 39 per cent regularly skipped meals for financial reasons. The voluntary rate is an independently calculated wage based on rising living costs and applies to all workers over the age of 18.

Around 14,000 employers are signed up to the real Living Wage, including FTSE 100 companies like Aviva, Everton FC, IKEA, and LUSH. You can find a full list of employers signed up here.

Currently, the government's National Living Wage stands at £10.42 for workers over the age of 23. A full-time worker earning the new, real Living Wage would earn £3,081 a year more than a worker earning the current government minimum, and £2,145 more than their current pay, the Living Wage Foundation said. In London, a full-time worker on the new real Living Wage rate would earn an additional £5323.50 a year compared to a worker on the