A third of staff earning ‘poverty wages’ in parts of Formby.....

Living wage of £7.85 an hour is the minimum needed to survive in modern Britain

More than a third of workers in parts of Merseyside earn less than the living wage, shocking new figures show.

The living wage of £7.85 an hour is the minimum experts believe is necessary to survive in modern Britain.

It is more than the minimum wage of £6.50 which all bosses are legally required to pay their staff.

The Office for National Statistics says 33.5% of employees in West Derby earn below £7.85 an hour.

Meanwhile the rate in the Sefton Central constituency – which includes Crosby, Maghull and Formby – is 33.1%.

There are 24% of workers in the average Merseyside constituency who take home less than the living wage.

Low pay is particularly common among part-time staff.

Cllr Nick Small

An astonishing 65.1% of part-time employees in Garston and Halewood are being paid less than £7.85 an hour, plus another 62.3% in Wirral South.

In West Derby the rate is also above average at 50%, while it is 49.2% in Sefton Central.

Cllr Nick Small, Liverpool council’s cabinet member for employment and skills, who is involved in talks to introduce a Living Wage Charter for Merseyside, said: “Work should always be the best route out of poverty, but under this coalition government that’s no longer the case, with around a quarter of workers across the city region earning below what they need to meet basic living costs.

“Sadly it’s getting worse with poverty pay increasing in most parts of the city region since 2013.

“That means taxpayers have to subsidise low pay through the benefits system.”

He called for the minimum wage to be raised to £8 an hour.

Research by the Low Pay Commission last year found retail, hospitality, cleaning, childcare, social care and hairdressing were among the worst-paying industries in Britain, with large proportions of staff below the living wage.