Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for (i) her Department and (ii) agencies of her Department are paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

In April 2016, the Government introduced a higher minimum wage rate, called the National Living Wage, which all employers in the UK are required to pay to those aged 25 and over.

The Home Office is compliant with April 2018 National Living Wage of £7.83 and pays this regardless of age. The Living Wage Foundation (LWF) is an initiative by Citizens UK which advocates employers paying an alternative hourly rate known as the Living Wage or London Living Wage. The current Living Wage is £8.75 and London Living Wage is £10.20. Currently there are 6 directly employed staff being paid marginally below the Living Wage Foundation rate.

All temporary agency staff are employed in accordance with the Agency Workers Regulations which ensures parity with directly employed staff after 12 weeks. Starting pay rates comply with the requirements of the current Government Living Wage legislation; this is a contractual obligation on the supplier and is monitored through contract compliance mechanisms.

The Home Office only requires its outsourced contractors to comply with the legal minimum standards of pay of their staff as set out in the Government National Living Wage legislation; again, this is a contractual obligation on the supplier and is monitored through contract compliance mechanisms and annually through our supplier assurance programme. The Home Office does not, however, require outsourced contractors to pay the Living Wage Foundation rates.