Levi Roots to pay employees London Living Wage
Dragons’ Den winner Levi Roots will pay employees the “real London living wage”, it has been announced.
Around 50 staff at the Reggae Reggae creator’s Caribbean Smokehouse, in Westfield Stratford, will receive a voluntary wage of £9.75 an hour.
The sum is well above the National Living Wage of £7.20.
The star is the latest to be accredited as a Living Wage employer.
Mr Roots, 58, won £50,000 on the BBC show in 2007 to invest in his spicy Caribbean sauce.
He said: “Our business model for Levi Roots Caribbean Smokehouse was always to make sure that every employee is paid at least the real London Living Wage.
“It’s fabulicious that this has been publicly recognised by our Living Wage employer accreditation, just in time for our first birthday celebrations.”
The national Living Wage was introduced by George Osborne in April last year and requires employers to pay staff a compulsory wage.
The voluntary London Living Wage was introduced in 2011 and has so-far benefitted more than 60,000 low-paid workers living in the capital.
Companies including Ikea, Lloyds TSB and EDF Energy signed up have all signed up to the scheme.
Living Wage Foundation Director Katherine Chapman told the Mirror: “It is fantastic that Levi Roots are signing up to pay the real Living Wage and showing leadership on tackling low pay in the restaurant sector.
“They join a growing movement of nearly 3,000 organisations who want to pay more than the legal minimums on pay because they recognise the value their staff add to the organisation, and the difference the real Living Wage makes to people’s lives.
“We hope Levi Roots example will encourage many more restaurants to sign up.”
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