Business and Society

Lord Bishop of Chester Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Chester]

My Lords, I want to risk the wrath of the noble Lord, Lord Patten, by suggesting that society as a whole would be better off if more businesses and organisations were to pay the living wage. The aim is to pay enough to sustain a basic but adequate standard of living. The current rates, as determined by the Living Wage Foundation, are £8.55 an hour in London and £7.45 an hour elsewhere.

Over the past 30 or so years, there has been a general move towards more liberalised markets. Whether this is a move back to the Hebrew Bible or not we can perhaps discuss at greater length, but no doubt it is. It has produced many benefits, but the problem is that any society based upon freedom tends to produce more winners and losers and exaggerates the differences, and indeed, an underclass very easily emerges.

While low pay is a feature of most advanced economies, the UK has a particularly high, and rising, share of low-paid workers. If we use the living wage as a guide, in 2011 nearly 5 million UK employees were paid less than the living wage. This included 25% of all female employees, and 41% of all part-time employees.

I travel regularly in Scandinavia for family reasons, and the benefits of having a minimum in excess of our living wage in relation to dignity at work as well as the wider and broader features of society, are pretty obvious to me. Surveys in the UK suggest that paying the living wage has led to improved productivity by reducing the staff turnover, and raising morale.

I remember all the predictions of economic damage when the minimum wage was introduced in this country. They were mistaken. Is it not time for businesses across the UK—and for that matter, the Government—to work towards a greater implementation of the living wage? Church bodies are resolved to do this as they are able to, and I am glad to say that real progress is being made. Very recently the Church Commissioners, with their extensive property holdings in London, have agreed to pay the living wage to all employees, including cleaners and everyone else.

In this spirit, I ask the Minister whether all those who work in these buildings, including contract workers, are themselves paid at least the London living wage. If not, why not?