Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November - December 2016 vol.11 No.6 | Page 37

Hygiene

organizations to nearly 3,000.

Filthy conditions and mice: the UK’s worst restaurants for hygiene

The ratings criteria are the same across England, Wales and
Northern Ireland and each local authority is responsible
for ranking food providers within its boundaries. Scotland
uses a different system, awarding a grade of “pass and
eat” to premises that exceed legal requirements of
hygiene, “pass” to those that are broadly compliant, or
“improvement required”.
The analysis revealed huge disparities in hygiene levels
around the country, with some local authorities failing
large numbers of food establishments and others failing
only a handful.

New real Living Wage Rates announced
for London & the UK, to impact cleaning
contractors
The Mayor of
London Sadiq Khan
announced recently
that the new
London Living Wage
has increased from
£9.40 to £9.75 per
higher cost of living
facing families in the
city - an increase of
3.7%.
This year over 300
more London-based employers have signed up to pay
their staff the hourly rate required to make ends meet in
the capital, bringing the number of London Living Wage
employers to nearly 1,000 - with a number of them being
contract cleaning companies.

These employers across
the UK range from
FTSE 100 companies
to small independent
businesses that are
choosing to go further
than the Governmentset minimum wage and
ensure that all their staff
and onsite contractors
earn the real Living Wage
which meets the cost of
living.

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

The announcements come after new research published by
paid less than the real Living Wage.
Sadiq Khan announced the new rate for the London
Living Wage at the British Library, the latest London
employer to commit to ensure staff earn a real Living
Wage.
“It’s great news that London is leading the way in paying
the Living Wage and that over 1,000 businesses are now
accredited and helping to make this a fairer and more
equal city,” he said. “I’m glad to say we’re well on track to
see it rise to over £10 an hour during my mayoralty, but
we need to go further and for many more businesses and
organizations to sign up.
London’s history we now have over one million businesses
based here. It’s essential that hard-working Londoners,
who keep this city going, are rewarded for their integral
role in this success.
“Paying the London Living Wage is not just the right and
moral thing to do, it makes good business sense too. As
clear - including increased productivity and reduced staff
turnover.
“The London Living Wage is a fantastic campaign and I
will be working to encourage more businesses across our
great city to get involved. This will not only help London
become a city where it’s a badge of pride for employers to
pay the London Living Wage, but help us become a city
First Minister for Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, and the First
Minister for Wales, Carwyn Jones also announced the UKwide Living Wage rate in their respective nations.

The UK rate has increased by 2.4% from £8.25 to £8.45.
This is 17% higher than the Government minimum for
over 25s which is £7.20 per hour. And in total, nearly 1,000
employers have signed up since Living Wage Week last
year, bringing the total number of accredited Living Wage
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