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<p>The Government is committed to ensuring fair remuneration for workers across the
economy. In April 2019, the National Living Wage (NLW) rate was increased to £8.21
per hour, a rise of 4.9 percent. This means that the annual earnings of a full-time
worker on the NLW will have increased by over £2,750 since the policy was introduced.
We are also supporting and encouraging employers to pay more where possible and appropriate.</p><p>In
line with this, at the end of last year, at the request of my rt. hon. Friend the
Secretary of State, officials in BEIS undertook a review of the pay of staff working
through its contractors, in order to ensure they receive a wage which is fair and
directly comparable to other employers across the local labour market.</p><p>As a
result of this review, the Department agreed with its contractors (Aramark and ISS)
that, from 1 March 2019, they would align the pay of their cleaning, catering, mailroom
and security staff to the appropriate median rates for those occupations as identified
in the 2018 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). This survey captures pay details
for around 300,000 employees from the HMRC Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system down to Local
Authority level and is therefore a robust and reliable source of pay data.</p><p>The
immediate change for some staff has been significant. For example, some of our lowest
paid security guards saw an increase of over 15%. Pay for staff working through our
contractors will continue to track the median rate in future years</p><p>The Department
does not currently intend to seek accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation.</p>
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