Some of the lowest paid workers in the country are employed by local authorities but Cheshire West and Chester Council aims to lead by example in implementing a Local Living Wage.

A proposal to go before the Labour cabinet on Wednesday (January 6) would usher in a minimum rate of £8.25 per hour for staff directly employed by the council, effective from April 1, 2016.

However, just 64 staff would initially benefit as most council services have been outsourced to council-owned and private companies.

Local companies encouraged to adopt the Living Wage

But a report to go before cabinet says council companies and schools will be encouraged to implement a Living Wage for their employees followed by a campaign to get firms across West Cheshire to follow suit.

The aim is for West Cheshire to become a ‘Living Wage Borough’ in line with Labour’s manifesto pledge.

The council wage would be above the National Living Wage, announced by Chancellor George Osborne last year, which will be phased in between 2016 and 2020. For over-25 year old employees, the wage will begin at £7.20 per hour in April 2016 and is projected to rise to at least £9 per hour by 2020.

And the council wage, which is based on a rate set by the Living Wage Foundation, would also include under 25s. The cost of implementing the measure for directly employed staff is estimated at £122,000 per annum. The impact of council companies adopting the same policy is estimated at £300,000 per year.

Risks cited are the extra financial burden given the council is already faced with making £35m cuts. And there would be the risk of equal pay claims if council employees were paid better than colleagues in council-owned firms. There is an acknowledgement about the potential for conflict if differentials are undermined whereby an employee is raised to the same level of their supervisor.

Ray McHale, vice chairman of West Cheshire Trades Union Council

West Cheshire Trades Union Council (TUC) has welcomed the recent resolution to full council opposing the Government’s Trade Union Bill , which they see as an attack and restricts trade union rights, and the Labour Group’s manifesto commitment to pay all staff the Living Wage.

Vice chairman Ray McHale, a former council employee and trade union official, said poor rates of pay among some council staff had become an embarrassment across the country.

He said: “There was a time about a year ago when the actual minimum wage overtook the lowest rate of pay for local authority staff.”

But he said the Local Living Wage must apply to staff in outsourced organisations otherwise it would be ‘meaningless’ and could lead to equal pay claims.