Community consultation told us that local people thought that if Herefordshire is developing sustainably local people would be paid at least the Living Wage (meaning the higher, voluntary Living Wage rather than the national minimum wage which the government also calls the Living Wage).

Because the Living Wage is voluntary it is hard to find definitive data on how many people were paid this level. The Office for National Statistics does publish details of pay based on an annual survey. We have calculated the ratio between lower quartile earnings (the point at which 25% of Herefordshire full time workers earn less and 75% earn more) and the UK living wage.

If the lowest paid workers earned above the minimum wage this ratio would tend to increase; if they earned less this ratio would tend to decrease.