Cornwall Council is to increase the minimum wage paid to its lowest paid staff to £8.25 an hour, bringing the authority in line with the Living Wage Foundation living wage.

The agreement by members at this week’s meeting of the full council follows concerns over the council’s decision not to implement the 5.1 per cent increase proposed by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) earlier this year.

Although the authority is already paying all its employees above the Government’s National Living Wage of £7.20 an hour, and is committed to implementing the £9 an hour increase proposed for 2020, some members had called for the council to increase the minimum hourly rate to the LWF level.

The council originally agreed to implement the living wage in accordance with a rate set by the LWF in 2014 as part of a collective agreement which addressed a number of pay bill issues. It was anticipated that this rate of pay would increase year on year in accordance with the rate set by the LWF but the collective agreement included a maximum threshold for future increases of three per cent . As the 5.1 per cent increase proposed by the LWF was above the maximum threshold set out in the collective agreement, the council did not implement this increase and instead set a minimum hourly rate of £8.02 for its employees.

Following a motion put forward by Councillors Tim Dwelly and Robert Webber, at the previous meeting of the full council, the issue was discussed at last week’s meeting of the reputation and performance portfolio advisory committee when members also heard the views of representatives from the trade unions.

Proposing the recommendation to increase the minimum hourly rate to £8.25 an hour, committee chairman, Malcolm Moyle, said that it was important that the council continued to be a living wage employer and supported its staff by leading the way in helping to address the issues of low pay. The recommendation was seconded by Councillor Steve Knightley and backed by a large number of members.

As well as increasing the minimum hourly rate in line with the LWF's living wage, backdated to April 1, members also agreed that if the increase proposed next year was higher than three per cent, the financial impact of applying this would be reported to full council for a decision on whether this should be supported.

Members also agreed to carry out a root and branch review of the council’s grading and pay structure in consultation with trade unions and other interested parties to help simplify the current structure and put the council in the best possible position to remain a living wage employer.