The council has become the first in the capital to be certified as a London Living Wage borough.
The accreditation means that the council now pays its entire staff no less than £8.30 an hour – the minimum hourly rate necessary for a worker to meet basic needs, according to the Greater London Authority.
Councillor Alice Perry said: “Islington is an expensive place and people deserve fair wages for their work. The living wage will make things better for people at the bottom.”
The move comes out of the council’s Fairness Commission, set up in 2010 to look at income inequality in the borough and attempt to produce practical ideas for reducing it.
One of its first moves was to cut the council chief executive’s pay by £50,000 to £160,000. Ms Perry added: “We have now reduced the pay difference between the lowest and highest paid directly employed staff at the local authority to 1:9. There is no need to have such a big pay gap and we are really pleased that we are able to reduce it.”
The accreditation comes from the Living Wage Foundation, a national body that recognises and celebrates the leadership shown by Living Wage employers across the UK.
It was founded in 2001 by families working two minimum wage jobs who had no time for their families because of their workload.
Sarah Vero, a spokeswoman for the foundation, said: “The London Living Wage helps people to live full lives in and outside work. We were very pleased to announce that we have been able to accredit Islington as a London Living Wage borough.”
Vaughan West, branch secretary of Islington GMB union, which represents council workers, said: “This demonstrates the positive working relationship we have developed with the council, which even in difficult economic times shows what can be achieved towards realising our common values of social justice for council staff and the people of Islington.”
Newspaper Journalism student at City University, London. Cambridge Graduate. Interested in all occurrences in Islington. Business editor of Islington Now.