Calculating the Living Wage outside London

The Living Wage outside London rose from £7.20 to £7.45 on 5 November 2012.  This figure, used by the Living Wage Foundation to accredit Living Wage Employers, has been calculated for the Foundation by the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP).  

The calculation is based on the Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom, the product of research by CRSP, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.  The research looks in detail at what households need in order to have a minimum acceptable standard of living.  Decisions about what to include in this standard are made by groups comprising members of the public.  The Living Wage is therefore rooted in social consensus about what people need to make ends meet. 

The uprating of the Living Wage figure each year takes account of rises in living costs and any changes in what people define as a ‘minimum’.  It also takes some account of what is happening to wages generally, to prevent a situation where Living Wage employers are required to give pay rises that are too far out of line with general pay trends. 

This paper gives a full account of the methods used to calculate the Living Wage outside London.  

A separate calculation of the Living Wage in London is made by GLA economics.

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