Harrow named worst place for wages in the UK with nearly half of all jobs paying less than living wage

North west London borough named joint worst alongside West Somerset
Living Wage employer: Lidl has pledged to meet the rate
Google Street View
Tom Marshall12 October 2015

Harrow has been identified as being the worst place in the UK for wages, with 42 per cent of jobs there paying less than the London Living Wage.

The north-west London borough was named joint worst along with West Somerset for high levels of low pay, according to official data.

It also emerged 750,000 people in the capital are earning less than the Living Wage of £9.15 per hour, after a significant rise in the proportion of people not being paid the rate.

At least a quarter of workers earned less than the Living Wage in 17 London boroughs, with Waltham Forest, Sutton, Enfield, Bexley and Newham also among the worst.

Meanwhile Westminster had the highest concentration of jobs paying less at £84,000, though that only amounts to 15 per cent of the total workforce in the area.

Sarah Vero, from the Living Wage Foundation, said: “Despite significant progress in many sectors, more jobs than ever are below the voluntary Living Wage rates that we recommend.

"These figures demonstrate that while the economy may be recovering as a whole, there is a real problem with ensuring everyone benefits, and low pay is still prevalent in Britain today."

The news comes after budget supermarket chain Lidl pledged to increase staff pay to bring it in line with the standard in a high profile move last month, which increased annual pay for thousands of workers by £1,200.

The highest proportion of jobs paying at least the Living Wage was found in the City of London, where only 5 per cent of salaries fell under £9.15 per hour.

Workers in Tower Hamlets, Camden, Southwark and Islington also received relatively high pay according to this measurement.

Across London, the ONS research – which is based on 2014 figures – showed a significant rise in the proportion of jobs not getting the wage.

The report said that between 2008 and 2010, it was stable at around 13 per cent, but it had risen to 19 per cent by 2014.

The statistics also reflect the pay gap between men and women, with 16 per of male workers receiving less than the Living Wage in 2014, while for women it was 22 per – 6 per cent more.

The number of London workers not earning the Living Wage was estimated to be 752,000 across the capital as a whole.

Dr Gerard Lyons, Chief Economic Adviser to the Mayor of London said: "These figures need to be seen in the context of the overall jobs market. London has seen the numbers in employment continue to grow. At a time of global economic turmoil and in the aftermath of the financial crisis the good news is that firms in London not only retained staff but added to employment.

"This partly explains what has been happening to wages. The good news now is that an increasing number of firms are now paying the London Living Wage, and that as the economy continues to recover we would expect more firms to pay the London living Wage."

Coucillor Kiran Ramchandani, Harrow's cabinet member for resources, said: "It is a priority of Harrow Council to tackle the issue of low pay in the borough.

"We are supporting local businesses to pay the London Living Wage, creating apprenticeship, training and new jobs for our residents, particularly our young people. As a council we already play our part and our staff are paid at least the London Living wage."

The research refers to London's Living Wage, promoted by the Living Wage Foundation and by the Mayor of London, not the new National Living Wage announced by chancellor George Osborne in his budget.

Full list of boroughs

Borough - Percentage paid less than Living Wage - Number paid less

Harrow - 42 - 26,000

Waltham Forest - 39 - 17,000

Sutton - 35 - 27,000

Enfield - 35 - 25,000

Bexley - 32 - 20,000

Newham - 30 - 22,000

Haringey - 30 - 12,000

Brent - 29 - 23,000

Ealing - 29 - 29,000

Bromley - 28 - 24,000

Croydon - 27 - 24,000

Wandsworth - 27 - 25,000

Havering - 26 - 16,000

Redbridge - 26 - 14,000

Merton - 25 - 14,000

Lewisham - 25 - 11,000

Greenwich - 25 - 14,000

Barnet - 24 - 22,000

Barking and Dagenham - 23 - 10,000

Kensington and Chelsea - 23 - 20,000

Kingston upon Thames - 23 - 18,000

Hounslow - 22 - 24,000

Richmond upon Thames - 21 - 14,000

Hammersmith and Fulham - 20 - 20,000

Hillingdon - 19 - 36,000

Hackney - 19 - 13,000

Westminster - 15 - 84,000

Lambeth - 15 - 20,000

Islington - 14 - 29,000

Southwark - 13 - 23,000

Camden - 12 - 34,000

Tower Hamlets - 9 - 22,000

City of London - 5 - 20,000

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in