One in five jobs paid less than living wage

Approximately six million employees in the UK are being paid below the living wage.

The Office for National Statistics released a paper on Monday which estimates the number of people paid less than £8.80 an hour in London and £7.65 an hour elsewhere in the UK in April 2014.

It said approximately 19% of jobs were paid less than the living wage in April 2014, up from 13% in April 2010. For the rest of the UK, that figure jumped to 23%.

Approximately 65% of accommodation and food service jobs were paid below the threshold in London and 70% in the rest of the country.

Retail saw a similar split, with 55% of employees not paid a living wage in the capital, and 59% elsewhere.

By region, the places with the lowest proportions of jobs paid under the threshold were the South East of England, London and Scotland, all sitting on 19%.

Northern Ireland had the highest proportion of jobs below the living wage at 29%.

It comes ahead of the Government’s National Living Wage which was announced in July and will be implemented from April 2016.