SOME workers will get a pay rise next year after two voluntary schemes announced they would increase how much they pay.

Oxford City Council said its Oxford Living Wage will increase to from £9.26 to £9.69 an hour from April, while the Living Wage Foundation has increased its rate by 30p to £8.75.

The Oxford Living Wage is calculated as 95 per cent of the London Living Wage, which is paid to workers in the capital.

The council pays that rate to all of its staff, asks employers to pay that rate and all contractors who are paid over £100,000 by the local authority must also adhere to it.

It said the rate would mean that anyone who is paid it ‘can live free from poverty’.

Some employers can choose to pay the Living Wage Foundation’s rate, which is still more than the Government’s mandatory Living Wage of £7.50 an hour.

The council’s deputy leader Susan Brown said: “We are proud to announce the new Oxford Living Wage, and the city council commits to continuing to pay all staff, agency workers and contractors above this level.”

Ms Brown added: “This helps our employees afford to live with dignity, and it also helps the council by improving staff motivation, customer service and by making it easier for us to retain quality staff.

"We encourage other employers in Oxford to adopt the Oxford Living Wage.”

A working group of councillors is working on ways in which the Oxford Living Wage could be paid more regularly across the city.

Its chairman Mark Ladbrooke said: “It’s been a privilege to take evidence from low paid workers, unions, health professionals, and community and faith groups who are arguing with such passion for fair pay in Oxford.

“I’m sure we will continue to be a strong advocate for the Living Wage, and we will work with workers and employers to make progress with this issue."

At least two employers in the Westgate Centre will pay the Oxford Living Wage, they confirmed to the Oxford Mail.

They are Acuitis, an opticians and hearing specialist which has already opened at the centre, and restaurant chain Dirty Bones, which will open soon.

All of the employers which pay the Oxford Living Wage is not currently known because not all have declared they are doing so to the city council.

But all of the bike hire operators across Oxford – Pony Bikes, Ofo, Mobike and Obike – pay the rate as part of a city council and Oxfordshire County Council-backed code of conduct.

The Oxford Mail has previously reported that there were 39 employers across Oxfordshire who had been accredited as Living Wage Foundation employers.

They include Oxford University and ten of its college, Oxfam and the Ultimate Picture Palace cinema in East Oxford.

Director of the Living Wage Foundation, Katherine Chapman, welcomed its increase.

She said: "We see organisations and businesses across the UK embracing the real Living Wage as they recognise that a fair day’s pay is not only the right thing so to but can improve the quality of staff’s work, reduce absenteeism and increase motivation and retention."