LIVING wage campaigners kicked off a national week of action yesterday in a bid to consign poverty pay to the dustbin of history.

The start of Living Wage Week saw the independently-adjusted pay marker raised to £9.15 an hour in London, and £7.85 elsewhere.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady used the occasion to reiterate her message that fair pay is the key to recovery.

“The fact is there are employers out there who can afford to pay living wages, but aren’t,” she said.

Tory London mayor Boris Johnson, who has championed the policy pioneered by his predecessor Ken Livingstone, announced that the number of Living Wage-accredited employers in the capital had doubled in the past year. 

ITV, Nationwide and Google are now signed up to the accreditation scheme — which means they agree to adjust wages in line with the Living Wage Foundation’s adjudications.

But Labour London Assembly member Fiona Twycross said the increase would “do little to help the hundreds of thousands of people paid below London Living Wage.”

Down the river at Newham, the Labour council headed by controversial mayor Robin Wales has yet to ensure that the private contractors it employs pay their staff enough to live on. 

Forest Gate resident Martin Warne took to Twitter to vent his frustration. 

“Tory-run GLA is an accredited Living Wage Employer,” he wrote. “Labour-run Newham isn’t. For shame.” All staff directly employed by the council are already paid the living wage.

In Cambridge, student activists will demonstrate in the city centre on Wednesday to demand low-paid cleaners and catering staff get a pay rise. Only one college, Queen’s, has so far been accredited as a Living Wage employer. Several others have agreed to pay the marker after pressure from students and staff but have been unwilling to make a longer-term commitment.

Campaign co-ordinator Daisy Hughes, an English literature student at King’s College, told the Star: “We hope our demonstration will send a message to the university, students and staff that the Living Wage remains a priority.

“It will be a celebration of the progress we have made and a recognition of the progress we have yet to make.”