One in 10 Leeds workers might be about to get a pay rise. Is that you?

Employees of Leeds City Council already earn above the real living wage of £9.30 an hour but the council has now committed to encouraging private companies to pay their employees more fairly.

It is estimated that just under 10 per cent of all Leeds working residents earned less than the government’s Real Living Wage in 2017 with in-work poverty continuing to rise.

The council said the fact a job is no longer a guaranteed route out of poverty in the modern economy means that “now more than ever” there is a need for employers in Leeds to look at and provide better and fairer employment.

This aligns with the TUC’s Great Jobs campaign which has been running since 2018 and looks at the ambition for everyone to have a great job with fair pay, regular hours and the opportunity to progress.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council executive board member for learning, skills and employment said: "There is a vital and evident need to tackle the growing inequality in employment across the city.

"This is not a specific issue to Leeds, but something we are deeply committed to addressing and are already leading the way through using our place based partnership approach through our network of Leeds Inclusive Anchors to work together to maximise the local benefits from spending, services and recruitment and spreading this learning far and wide across the city and deep into our communities.

"As a council we have already spent over £13million on investing in our staff and paying the Real Living Wage and this commitment is set to continue and widen as we explore further ways to embed these payments into our supply chains as well.

"As a city there is a lot of great work already ongoing in this area, with a number of employers already paying the Real Living Wage, but we are well aware that more needs to be done and we will continue to push this agenda forward."