More than a quarter in Black Country earn less than living wage

The voluntary living wage, as promoted by the Living Wage Foundation campaign group, has increased by 40p per hour to £8.25 per hour.

More than 2,000 accredited employers have agreed to pay it, including Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Unilever and Richer Sounds.

The figure is higher than the current national minimum wage of £6.70, and the Government's pending National Living Wage for those aged 25 and over of £7.20 per hour that is due to start next April.

But although the increase means a pay rise for staff working at employers signed up to the living wage, across the Black Country and Staffordshire 167,000 workers earn less than the old rate of £7.85 per hour.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in South Staffordshire almost one in three jobs pay less than the rate.

In Sandwell, 36,000 workers pick up less than £7.85 an hour, equating to 29.5 per cent per cent of the total workforce.

Walsall has 25,000 employees earning less than the old rate (28.1 per cent) while in Dudley the same can be said of 28,000 staff (26.6 per cent).

In Wolverhampton, a quarter of employees earn less than £7.85 per hour, representing 23,000 jobs.

Ravi Subramanian, Regional Secretary for Unison in the West Midlands, said: "There has been an increase in the number of employers who are paying the living wage and this has to be welcomed.

"The increase in the living wage is also to be welcomed as it will make a significant difference to hundreds of people's lives.

"What we now need to see is more employers signing up to the voluntary living wage rather than paying the fake living wage that George Osborne has announced."

Commenting on the increased rate of £8.25 per hour, Sarah Vero, director at the Living Wage Foundation said: "We are celebrating those 2,000 responsible businesses that are voluntarily paying the living wage to their staff.

"These employers are not waiting for Government to tell them what to do. Their actions are helping to end the injustice that is in-work poverty in the UK now."

As with the government's minimum wage, employers have six months to bring in the new pay level.

The living wage is an informal benchmark, and is not a legally enforceable minimum level of pay.

Among the firm's to sign up in the Black Country are Frontier Youth Trust and The Swimming Teachers Association, both in Walsall, and City of Wolverhampton College.