YORK has been hailed as a national example by Living Wage campaigners and is today launching a new city-wide alliance to promote the policy.

The Living Wage Foundation, which leads the campaign, has praised York for having the biggest concentration of accredited businesses outside London.

At the same time, it has been announced York Citizens Advice Bureau, City of York Council, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York CVS and Aviva are teaming up to launch a York Living Wage coalition.

They will promote awareness of the Living Wage, which is higher than the legal minimum wage and seeks to reflect the amount needed to meet a basic standard of living.

The coalition will produce a guide for employers and hopes to win round more local employers. The Living Wage has been hailed as a vital way of reducing inequality and poverty in York.

The Living Wage Foundation today announced the latest list of accredited employers and organisations, and singled out York for praise. Local accredited employers include the council, JRF and Joseph rowntree Housing Trust, York CVS and York CAB.

Rhys Moore, director of the foundation, said: “York is the first city outside London to have such a concentration of Living Wage employers with a joint commitment to tackling the problems of low pay across the city.

"I look forward to working with them and seeing many more York employers signing up to the Living Wage City brand. We want it to be recognised as a ‘Fairtrade’ mark of excellence among York employers.”

George Vickers, chief executive of York CAB, said: “Low pay is a real issue in York. We know that more than a quarter of jobs in the city are in low paid sectors leaving thousands of working families struggling to make ends meet.

"We see them in the bureau suffering stress as they face mounting debts. The Living Wage could make a real difference.”

York council leader James Alexander said he was delighted York’s commitment had been recognised and said: “We can now embark on our next commitment which is to make York a Living Wage City.”

Shaun Rafferty, director of central services at the JRF, said “Our commitment to paying the living wage makes complete sense to us, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because we also believe that staff who are valued through receiving the living wage are more engaged and productive.

"Our own experience has shown a reduction in staff turnover from 25 percent to 10 per cent in the last year”.

Angela Darlington, chief risk officer at Aviva said paying the Living Wage was not easy for employers but said coalition members had a wealth of information and experience.

She said: “We want to share this with other employers in the city who are interested in ways to support their staff in these tough economic times.”