Figures show one in five employees in the Highlands are being paid less than the real living wage during coronavirus outbreak
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Almost one in five Highland employees, including those classed as key workers considered critical to the response to the coronavirus crisis, are earning below the Real Living Wage (RLW) according to the latest figures.
The data shows that in the Highlands an estimated 18.3 per cent, or 20,000 jobs are paid below the RLW – compared with 16.9 per cent for the whole of Scotland.
The BBC's Shared Data Unit says this includes key workers such as carers; hospital cleaners and porters; pharmacy and other dispensing assistants; and ambulance staff (excluding paramedics).
The RLW is a voluntary scheme, devised by the Living Wage Foundation, which is calculated independently from the government and is based on costs such as food, clothing and household bills.
The foundation rates are currently set at £10.75 an hour for those working within London and £9.30 an hour for those working in the rest of the UK – this compares with the legally binding National Living Wage which the government raised to £8.72 an hour yesterday.
However the figures showed that the proportion of workers earning less than the RLW dropped from 2018 to 2019 and the Office for National Statistics has said that this was due to the government increasing the National Living Wage by a larger percentage than the rise in the Living Wage Foundation’s rates.
Lola McEvoy, GMB union organiser, said: "Millions of the lowest paid in the UK have been recognised as Covid-19 key workers.
"This crisis has inadvertently shone a light on the rock-bottom pay and miserly terms and conditions of the people we now expect to risk their health to protect us.
"All key workers including cleaners, carers, teaching assistants and hospital porters, must be respected with a real living wage and decent contractual terms that reflect their undisputable societal value."
Nye Cominetti, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think-tank, said: "Britain's low-paid workers have been at the heart of the current economic crisis, for good and bad reasons.
"Low-paying sectors like hospitality, travel and non-food retail have been most affected by the government's lockdown, with firms closing and job losses mounting.
"More positively, workers in low-paying sectors – from supermarket staff to care workers and hospital porters – are playing an essential role in steering the country through the crisis.
"Many of these workers will have benefitted from big increases in the National Living Wage, and some will have additionally benefited from wider adoption of the real living wage. For public sector workers in particular, some local authorities are already living wage accredited.
"Once we emerge from the crisis, other councils and public sector bodies should sign up too to show how much their lowest-paid frontline workers are valued."
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: "It is right we ensure the lowest paid are fairly rewarded for their contribution to the economy, particularly those working in essential services during the biggest threat this country has faced in decades.
"This year's increase to the National Living Wage means we will be putting an extra £930 a year into the pockets of 2.4 million of the UK's lowest paid workers."
