Thousands of region’s lowest-paid NHS staff awarded living wage

Bosses at the Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, which has 3,000 staff, will adopt the wage which rises to 7.85 per hour from January 1.

The amount is calculated according to the basic cost of living and is 21 per cent higher than the £6.50 minimum wage.

Trust chairman Prof Alan Walker, who also heads the Sheffield Fairness Commission, said it was a pioneering decision by a NHS trust in the city.

“As a trust we intend to do more to contribute to the aspiration for Sheffield to be the fairest city in the country,” he said.

Deputy chief executive Clive Clarke said: “Our adoption of the living wage ensures that our lowest paid workers receive sufficient income to provide themselves and their families with the essentials of life.”

York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which has 8,500 staff across sites in North Yorkshire, adopted the wage earlier this year and will uprate it to £7.85 an hour from January 1.

Chief executive Patrick Crowley said: “We are proud to be a living wage employer and to play our part in making York a fairer city for its residents.

“Since April 2014 when we first adopted the living wage, 630 of our staff working across the whole trust, including porters, catering, domestic and healthcare assistants, have been paid the national living wage.

“Adopting the living wage forms part of our aim to be an employer of choice in all the communities that we provide services for, and despite the significant cost, we felt strongly that it was the right thing to adopt the new rate and to implement it with affect from January 1.

“We are extremely proud to play our part in continuing the City of York’s long history of socially-responsible employers who endeavour to improve the quality of life for their workers.”