Should businesses in Oxford be made to pay the Living Wage automatically?

YES

David Thomas, Oxford city councillor for the Green Party, Holywell Ward

Yes, businesses should be made to pay the living wage. Both the Green Party and the Labour Party aim to see that happen.

My party stands the living wage at £10; having businesses pay the living wage is our social economic goal.

Surely people living in Oxford can survive on just the minimum wage? They can’t.

Oxford is officially the UK’s most unaffordable city in the UK, with 80 per cent unable to afford to buy a house.

Private rental costs are soaring, and social housing rents are being hiked to fund the building of yet more unaffordable housing.

Twenty-five per cent of children live below the poverty line, the majority in families with at least one working parent.

To cap it all, thousands require emergency food aid every year.

Against this background, it is unforgivable that thousands of Oxford jobs pay significantly below the Oxford Living Wage.

And there appears very little appetite to do anything about it.

While a few employers – like Oxford City Council – have shown leadership and pride in paying a living wage, others – like Oxford’s colleges – have been dragged kicking and screaming to the concept, shamed into action by their own students.

The Oxford Health Trust – one of the city’s biggest employers – continues to refuse to entertain the idea. Shame on them.

My worry is that Oxford City Council, having decided to pay the Living Wage, seems unwilling to help or encourage others to follow suit. Waiting for a change in the law to make the Living Wage mandatory simply prolongs the agony of thousands currently stuck on the minimum wage.

Action should be taken right now.

Not paying the Living Wage means that people in Oxford are struggling and in the end are having to claim more money from benefits to get by.

In my opinion, whenever a business takes the ethical step of respecting its staff and pay them a Living Wage (in the process increasing staff retention and productivity), Oxford City Council should be doing everything it can to help that business win more customers.

They should pay their staff the Living Wage because they are a vital part of their business.

We remember the arguments the rich span to prevent the introduction of the minimum wage in the 90s, the same arguments that are being rolled out today to prevent a Living Wage being paid. They are all spurious.

The more people in Oxford that can be moved from a minimum wage to a Living Wage, the less inequality there will be, and the better the city will be for all of us.

NO

Steve McCarthy, owner of Siblings Nursery

ETHICALLY no, I don’t feel any company should have the Living Wage forced upon them.

The current UK rate outside London is £7.85, set annually by the Living Wage Foundation and calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.

We have the minimum wage legislation as a safety net.

The minimum wage rate for a 21-year-old is £6.50.

The difference in an employer paying the two rates can amount to almost £3,000 per annum (including employer’s contributions). Wage bills can account for over 50 per cent of turnover in what is still a precarious economic climate.

A new business venture can take anything up to five years to become a viable venture. Forcing companies to pay this will either put a lot out of business, or pass on the increased costs to the consumer.

Morally, I believe if your business is in a position to pay the Living Wage, and you are not paying it, then you are not looking at the bigger picture.

I am a firm believer that staff are your greatest asset.

They are the ambassadors for your business and deserve the very best you can offer them.

It takes three years to train one of our staff members to full qualification, even then there are constant investments in additional training.

How crazy is it that as soon as your staff become qualified they leave your business to go work for someone else who does value their worth?

We have never had a member of staff leave us to go and work in a similar setting.

We value our staff, we always promote from within, and we offer real long term futures.

The Government is encouraging employers to award pay rises in order to create wealth.

Some councils like Brent and the Royal Borough of Greenwich are reducing business rates to companies as an incentive to pay their employees the Living Wage.

At Siblings Nursery we have committed to paying our employees the Living Wage. How about South Oxfordshire District Council, and Oxford City Council following the lead of Brent and Greenwich, and perhaps matching their commitment to businesses?