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Living Wage
Sharona68
Posts: 1,915 Forum Member
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Can somebody point me in the right direction please...
I have 2 jobs, full time in an office and a 2nd job down the local pub.
Up until a few weeks ago in the pub job we were on the minimum wage but then we got an increase to about £6.90 an hour. We were told that they were paying us the "living wage" and that Holiday Pay was included in the increased amount. Therefore, any holidays taken by us wouldn't be paid as we had already had it.
I personally won't be affected as I never miss a shift down the pub, but a friend of mine who works full-time thinks he is missing out on holiday pay.
I had tried searching on the internet but all as I can come up with is that Living Wage (outside of London) should be £7.45 an hour.
So can anyone please clarify these points:
If you are paid the Living Wage, do you therefore not get paid for your holiday.
If you get paid the Living Wage outside of London, should it be £7.45 an hour.
If you don't get £7.45 an hour, yet your employer is telling you that you are being paid the Living Wage, is this legal.
thanks
I have 2 jobs, full time in an office and a 2nd job down the local pub.
Up until a few weeks ago in the pub job we were on the minimum wage but then we got an increase to about £6.90 an hour. We were told that they were paying us the "living wage" and that Holiday Pay was included in the increased amount. Therefore, any holidays taken by us wouldn't be paid as we had already had it.
I personally won't be affected as I never miss a shift down the pub, but a friend of mine who works full-time thinks he is missing out on holiday pay.
I had tried searching on the internet but all as I can come up with is that Living Wage (outside of London) should be £7.45 an hour.
So can anyone please clarify these points:
If you are paid the Living Wage, do you therefore not get paid for your holiday.
If you get paid the Living Wage outside of London, should it be £7.45 an hour.
If you don't get £7.45 an hour, yet your employer is telling you that you are being paid the Living Wage, is this legal.
thanks
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Comments
I don't really understand the holiday bit, but there is no 'legal definition' of the 'Living Wage' (AFAIK), it's a casual term.
So in answer to your last bit, yes it's legal. All that matters is that you/they are being paid at least the national minimum wage.
Even as a part time worker you are entitled to holiday pay. It's the law.
I have no idea what this living wage is, just a figure spouted by some. It has no legal bearing.
This is what the govenment website says about it.
https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
To say nothing of the effect on inflation and crippling financial burden your idea would impose on the economy.
:eek:
my only luxury is my classic Daimler which I adore, but I drive a 17 year old diesel Peugeot as my daily driver - no new cars every three years etc.
No mortgage, I rent and no holidays for years now.
I can only assume that people on the minimum wage must get some kind of help with rent etc otherwise they would be stuffed.
Haha we don't have £25,000 between us. We have a mortgage and all the other nice things that come from owning our own home. If we get a holiday this year it will be a long weekend up North. We don't smoke and I drink occasionally. We don't buy new clothes, our car is a 10 year old heap. My only luxury is my cat. But he is so worth it.
Holiday pay should be paid for the time when annual leave is taken. An employer cannot include an amount for holiday pay in the hourly rate (known as ‘rolled-up holiday pay’). If a current contract still includes rolled-up pay, it needs to be re-negotiated.
https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay-the-basics
I was wondering about that too as it seemed the only explanation. All I can think of is that this is a mean spirited attempt to garner themselves some good PR. It enables them to advertise jobs at above the minimum wage and make themselves look good in to the bargain. At the same still effectively paying minimum wage once the non-holiday pay is factored back in.
So they are lying about paying a living wage to start with and secondly cannot do what they are doing if the OP has the details correct.
I believe in keeping people out of abject poverty but I believe at least as strongly in encouraging people to maximise their potential. If someone wants to lead a 'good' life they should have to work for it. No healthy adult should be entitled to a free ride.
That's your definition of poverty? Everything on that list is a luxury. Minimum wage isn't about ensuring someone can change their car every three years, get a mortgage or take a holiday. Not to me anyway.
Problem is it isn't about making sure people can rent a property to live in either to me a minimum would be enough to do that at least.
But maybe I'm just being mean. I've done well for myself and not had to use government or local authority assistance since I left full time education. My attitude has always been that government help is a safety net and therefore something everyone should aspire to avoid as much as possible. I know that's not a universally accepted view point
Depending on circumstances housing benefit could be claimed.
We are in shared ownership flat, but even that is getting more expensive as the council rental side is pushed up each year to try to catch up with private rental prices.
Like I said I think 25k is the true 'living wage' - I can live on that alright its not a major luxury buying wage but it is a living wage - you can pay your rent, you can feed yourself and the cat, you can own a car and get the odd luxury.
I find it quite sad that some people on benefits that have never worked seem to be better off than some on minimum wage who work hard.
Single males seem to be the worst done to bunch from what I have seen in life's experience, they don't even have the option of dropping a sprog and getting a flat for themselves. I'll bet that these days there are more single males still living at their parents than there have been for many decades, most of them with a poor chance of ever getting away unless they wed (or just shack up)
Thank god I abandoned the dead-end job life when I was 25 and went back to college/Uni - I had no help at all and worked my tits off both at jobs and College to get where I am now but It was flipping worth it.
I remember days rummaging around the house to find things to sell on Ebay to cover the rent, the council were bastards with me at all times giving no le-way at all, It was a constant hare and hounds routine to cover the bills from start to finish but it got me out of that life and was worth the hard work.
I recommend bettering yourself to anyone stuck in a nowhere route - Colleges are signing up now for Sept, get on it
Since the OP has a full time office job, which would use up the allowances, the bar work would be taxed at basic rate.
If the employer is trying to pass off tax changes as a pay increase, then the OP is benefiting.
Hopefully this site will help,
http://www.livingwage.org.uk/
Whereas minimum wage is just to keep you alive.
How do you think small business can manage if they have to pay their employees £25k per year? I'll tell you. They will have to put their prices up. And there you go - massive inflation.
Or small businesses should consolidate so that they can serve more customers with less staff.
Yes that will mean more unemployed but that will even out eventually.
So if unskilled workers are getting that then wages for semi skilled and skilled workers will also have to raise proportionally as well. Otherwise what's the incentive for people to learn new skills or take on high responsibility roles?
It is quite sad that for our society to function there must be people at the bottom struggling and working hard to support those at the top who do far less - I suppose that is capitalism for you though.
I would like to see everyone in a position where they can rent their own place, feed themselves and the cat and drive a car if they wanted to (it makes distant employment viable for a start).
Its not going to happen in my lifetime though
I've been doing some digging myself and I think that they are mistakenly calling it the "living wage" as it's not the correct rate.
It appears that they are using the "rolled-up" holiday pay method which I'm finding differing information about.
gov.uk and acas both state that it's illegal. However some sites say that employers can use it as long as it is clearly stated on payslips exactly how much is being allocated as holiday pay.
I've been trying to work out exactly how much this amount should be. As they pay minimum wage, does anyone know if there is a minimum percentage of this that can be allocated as holiday pay?
Thanks.