Around 450 North Lanarkshire Council employees have been given a pay boost.
The workers will benefit from the new hourly rate of £9.47 which will be introduced from July 1. The decision was approved at a meeting of the council’s Finance and Resources Committee.
The committee’s convener, Councillor Bob Burrows, said: “We believe increasing this payment is the minimum we should commit to in order to help our staff with the ever increasing cost of living.
“Many of our staff live locally and it is vital they are paid a fair and reasonable wage to assist them with an affordable quality of life.
“All Scottish Local Authorities have committed to paying the Scottish Local Government Living Wage as a minimum to all employees by 2022.
“However, we wanted to make sure that any new and existing employees in North Lanarkshire had this consolidated into their contracts as soon as possible.
“We were also grateful to the trade unions for helping in this process.
“Our staff within the council are our biggest asset and by paying them the Scottish Local Government Living Wage, we can help tackle in-work poverty, better retain staff, reduce absence levels and improve motivation.”
