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Nearly a quarter of workers outside London are paid less than the Living Wage, official figures have revealed.

The proportion of employees falling short of the recommended hourly rate, currently £7.85, rose to 23% last year from 21% two years earlier.

In London, where the voluntary rate is £9.15 per hour, the proportion being paid less rose to 19% from 13% in the same period, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.

It means six million people across the country are now not paid enough to cover the basic cost of living.

Half are part-time staff, with most of these being women.

Some 29% of working women, and 18% of male employees, now get less than the Living Wage.

The rise makes a mockery of the Tory Government’s claim that it wants to “make work pay”.

Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, said it was time the Living Wage was set at £10 an hour and made compulsory.

He added: ”Britain’s companies, with strong cash reserves, can well afford to pay it.

"Not only are bosses failing to pay the Living Wage, but these workers are the very people who will be hit by the savage cuts to the working tax credits .

“Three million low-waged families could lose £1,000 a year or, in some cases, up to £1,700 when the cuts to the tax credits come into force next April.

“The dismal failure of employers to pay the Living Wage disproportionately hits those in low-paid, insecure work and also women.”

Recent TUC research found that in some parts of the UK more than three-quarters of part-time women workers earn less than the Living Wage

(Image: Getty)

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “We need to value women’s work more.

"And we need employers in sectors with large female workforces, such as care services, retail and hospitality, to give their staff fairer pay.”

The voluntary code set by the Living Wage Foundation is different from the national minimum wage of £6.70 an hour, and higher than the Tories’ new “national living wage” of £7.20 an hour being introduced for over-25s in April.

There are now more than 1,800 employers accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, including Barclays, RBS and HSBC banks.

Around 200 have signed up in recent months, with more expected to follow before a new hourly rate is set next month, expected to be closer to £8.

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Outside London, the area with the most jobs below the Living Wage was West Somerset (41.9%).

The area with the fewest was Runnymede (8.5%).

Harrow had the highest number of jobs below the Living Wage in London (41.8%). The City of London had the fewest - just 5.2%.

The TUC said one of the main findings of the ONS study was that across the UK 18% of male employees, and 29% of female employees, are paid less than the Living Wage.

Areas of Britain outside London with the highest and lowest number of jobs below the Living Wage in 2014.

Highest proportion of jobs below Living Wage:

West Somerset 41.9% Torridge 41.6% North East Derbyshire 39.6% Breckland 39.3% West Lancashire 38.2% North Norfolk 37.8% Melton 37.0% West Devon 36.7% Mansfield 36.4% Woking 36.1%

Lowest proportion of jobs below Living Wage:

Runnymede 8.5% Mole Valley 9.5% South Cambridgeshire 10.1% Bracknell Forest 10.6% Guildford 10.6% Oxford 11.1% Copeland 11.2% Crawley 11.7% Rushmoor 12.0% Slough 12.2%