Cllr Muhammed Butt, council leader, revealed plans at a public meeting in Kilburn

Brent Council is working on plans to bring in the London living wage for all workers it employs directly and is seeking to encourage contractors to do the same.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, revealed the plan at a public meeting on the future of Kilburn High Road in Kingsgate Community Hall in Kingsgate Road, Kilburn, on Wednesday night.

The leader was responding to concerns residents voiced about the standard of living and wealth of people living on or near the High Road, and their ability to take part in the wider community.

Cllr Butt said: “At the moment we are looking at implementing the London living wage for most of my employees in the council and then seeing if we can influence other contractors and suppliers to see if they can go down that route.”

The London living wage is a target set by the Greater London Authority and is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the capital.

It is updated annually in November, but it is not compulsory and employers only choose to pay it on a voluntary basis.

The current London living wage is �8.30 per hour while the national minimum wage stands at �6.08 per hour for workers aged 21 and over and �4.98 for people aged 18 to 20.

Cllr Butt said: “We want to implement it in the council first for people who are directly employed and from there encourage our contractors to do the same.

“It’s a tough time for people and if we can, we will help improve the lives of people by putting something in their pocket.

“But it’s not just about giving them more money, we hope that they will spend that money locally and help boost the economy of Brent.”

Cllr Butt said discussions with the GMB union had taken place and representatives had accepted the proposals.