article_snippet: Tory peer Lord Wolfson, who last year took home £4.6million, said living wage was 'irrelevant' The multi-millionaire boss of Next sparked anger last night after declaring that living wage was ‘irrelevant’.
article_snippet: living wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK and is £7.85 an hour and £9.15 in London.
article_snippet: Lord Wolfson earns a basic salary of £729,000 which works out at £233 an hour assuming Lord Wolfson works 12 hours a day and excludes weekends.
article_snippet: Lord Wolfson believes living wage is irrelevant because living wage depends on how many hours staff work as to what how many hours staff earn and whether how many hours staff can live on living wage.
article_snippet: Lord Wolfson said: ‘I think retail wages are a living wage for a lot of people but not for everybody. '
article_snippet: What is a living wage will depend on the circumstances of the person earning it more than the amount being paid.
article_snippet: What is a living wage for a student living at home is very different to a living wage to someone who is supporting family.
article_snippet: I think there are a lot of people for whom £6.70 an hour is a wage they can live on
article_snippet: so the amount you are earning per hour is irrelevant really,’ he said.
article_snippet: It’s the amount you earn in total that will determine whether you can live on it or not.
article_snippet: Luke Hildyard from the High Pay Centre said: ‘The living wage is calculated by independent experts looking at a wide range of evidence.
article_snippet: They are probably better judges of its relevance than Lord Wolfson - and with estimated wealth of more than £100 million, it does feel a bit crass for him to be passing comment on whether people can get by on less than £7.85 an hour.
article_snippet: ‘to try and live on that wage for a prolonged period’.
highlights_snippet: living wage is is £7.85 an hour in the UK and £9.15 in London .