Lewisham launches rate relief for Living Wage employers
Lewisham employers, the Living Wage Foundation and the Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock, came together this week to launch a discount offer for businesses who sign up to become London Living Wage employers.
Lewisham Council is offering all local business rate payers a discount worth up to £5,000 on their business rates if they become accredited London Living Wage employers in the upcoming financial year.
The London Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK and currently stands at £9.40 per hour. Employers choose to pay the living wage on a voluntary basis and the independently set rate ensures that employees can earn an ethical wage that covers the costs of living in London. Lewisham Council became one of the first councils to pay the London Living Wage in 2012 and has since worked to encourage other Lewisham-based employers to become accredited London Living Wage employers too.
The event saw Sir Steve Bullock present Stella Brown, from local crisis intervention centre Deptford Reach, with a Mayor of Lewisham business award for the centre’s commitment to paying the London Living Wage to their staff.
Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, said: ‘Out of all the schemes that exist in London to support employees the London Living Wage has got to be one of the best of them. As a council we pay the London Living Wage because we believe that it is the right thing to do morally. I’d like to congratulate Deptford Reach on their commitment to the living wage scheme and hope that our business rates discount encourages even more Lewisham employers to follow suit.’
To find out more about the London Living Wage and the business rates discount offer for Lewisham business rate payers visit www.lewisham.gov.uk/LLW
