Lowest-paid Portsmouth council workers to receive wage increase

Members of the council's employment committee approved a pay rise for workers aged 18 and over from £9 to £9.30 for 2020/21, which has been set by the Living Wage Foundation.

The living wage is higher than the mandatory national living wage, which is currently £8.21 for those aged 25 and above.

Speaking at the committee meeting Councillor Darren Sanders said: 'By having a real living wage it sends out the right signals.

'We've had reports about how it reduces days off and reduces sickness both physical and mental because you are secure. It's also about how much money it puts into the economy.

'So having as many people as possible on the living wage is very very good news.'

A large proportion of affected employees would work in social care.

Cllr Luke Stubbs had some concerns. He said: 'If you think the spend on domiciliary care in 2017/18 was about £5m and it's a number that has been rising partly through increases in the national living wage and also partly because the need for domiciliary care services is rising significantly. So I suspect that £5m could be over £6m now.

'These are serious numbers and to increase spending at that rate could have an effect on services being provided.'

Around 300 staff will be affected by the increase.

Portsmouth City Council first signed up to the Living Wage Foundation’s real living wage in September 2018.

The cost is estimated to be £6,622 and will need to be met from existing staff budgets.