Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date her Department became a Living Wage Employer.

In April 2016, the government introduced a higher statutory minimum wage rate for all employees over 25 years of age - the National Living Wage. All employers in the UK are required to pay the National Living Wage. The Department for Work and Pensions pays all employees, regardless of age, at least the statutory National Living Wage which is revaluated each April. From April 2020 the rate increased to £8.72 per hour.

The Living Wage Foundation is an initiative by Citizens UK which advocates employers paying an alternative hourly rate known as the Living Wage. Employers can apply to be accredited Living Wage employers. DWP is not an accredited Living Wage employer.