ALMOST half a million workers on the voluntary Real Living Wage are set for a pay rise.

The Living Wage Foundation has announced rates are to go up by 60p to £12.60 an hour across Britain and by 70p to £13.85 in London for workers at more than 15,000 employers.

The statutory minimum wage is currently £11.44 an hour for workers over 21 and £8.60 for 18 to 20-year-olds.

Living Wage Foundation director Katherine Chapman said that the rises “will make a massive difference to almost half a million workers who will see their pay increase.”

Shop worker union Usdaw’s general secretary Paddy Lillis said they “clearly show that the Tories’ so-called National Living Wage is nothing of the sort.

“We call on employers to take notice of the new rates and negotiate increases in their base pay to reflect the cost of living.”

Employers who are signed up have until May 1 to pay the increased rates.