Making London a Living Wage City

With the Living Wage Foundation, we are working to make London a Living Wage City. This multi-year campaign will see us work to put £635m of wages back into the pockets of low-paid workers in London.

As part of this campaign, we are focusing on sectors where low pay is the most rampant, and where employers paying the real Living Wage can have the most impact in London. This includes the hospitality sector.

WHY HOSPITALITY?

Hospitality has the highest portion of low-paid jobs in London of any sector. Businesses accrediting to pay the real Living Wage can change that.

According to official ONS data, 53% of jobs that fall under ‘accommodation and food services’ pay below the London Living Wage, despite counting for over 10% of the capital’s employment. Almost a fifth of all hospitality employment across the UK occurs in London.

We see the problem of low pay even more in the accommodation sector; the average hourly rate for employees in the accommodation sector is £4 less than the average employee across the broader economy.

In the accommodation sector, low pay mainly affects younger workers and women with little scope for pay progression. The highest earning age group (40 – 50yrs) still earn £54 less per week than the average 22 – 29yr employee across the broader economy. Simultaneously, excessive executive pay still exists across the sector.

110,000 workers in the Hospitality Sector work at night and data from the GLA indicates that if you work at night, you are more likely to be paid below the Living Wage than if you do the same occupation during the day. 23% of night time workers as a whole earn below the London Living Wage.

Action strand for hospitality

As part of the 'Making London a Living Wage City' campaign, we are supporting cross-sector coalitions to tackle low pay in London. These coalitions are made up of business leaders, workers, and key civil society groups who are coming together to make change.