GEORGE OSBORNE’S claim to be implementing a “national living wage” of £7.20 will be further discredited today as the real rate is raised to £8.25 an hour.

Around 70,000 workers will benefit from a 40p boost announced by the Living Wage Foundation to compensate for rising living costs.

But almost six million workers are now living hand-to-mouth on less than the current living wage of £7.85, auditors KPMG revealed at the weekend.

A shocking 23 per cent earn less than the current living wage — a spike of more than half a million since last year.

Part-time, female and young workers are most likely to be struggling on the minimum wage.

Labour shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said it was proof that “people are working harder but the government is working against them.”

The Chancellor has claimed this his “national living wage” will lift them out of poverty when it is introduced on April 1.

The Living Wage Foundation has been clear though that it is “effectively a higher national minimum wage and not a living wage.”

And Mr Osborne’s offer now lags a full £1.05 behind the real living wage after today’s rise.

Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said it showed the policy amounted to “little more than a con-trick.”

“This modest pay rise will not make up for the drastic cuts to tax credits which, in their current form, are likely to hit those on the lowest wages,” he said.

The Living Wage Foundation announced that it has now accredited 2,000 organisations and businesses across Britain.

Foundation director Sarah Vero praised employers who are “not waiting for government to tell them what to do.

“Their actions are helping to end the injustice that is in-work poverty in the UK now,” she said.

A government spokeswoman said: “We are determined to move to a higher wage economy and welcome any employers who choose to pay above the national living wage.”