Living wage miscalculated for last 4 years, says gov't

The Island's Living wage has been miscalculated for the last four years.

That's the admission from government, following the implementation of "improved quality assurance procedures" earlier this year.

Statistics Isle of Man found figures for 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 have all been inaccurate.

Taking into account these miscalculations, the Manx Living Wage for previous years should have been:

2017: £7.81, rather than £8.61

2019: £8.93, rather than £9.76

2020: £9.38, rather than £10.19

2021: £9.63, rather than £10.87

Moving forward, officials say the figures have been corrected and validated by an outside source.

Meanwhile, this year's living wage has increased by 18p.

The 2022 figure stands at £11.05 an hour, up from £10.87 in 2021.

It reflects a weekly wage (before tax) of £414.38 and an annual salary of just over £21,500.

The Living wage is a voluntary rate of pay organisations can choose to adopt - as opposed to the Minimum wage, which is legally enforceable.

In July last year Tynwald agreed the Minimum Wage on Island should rise to meet the Living wage by 2026, which has since been moved forward to 2025.

Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson has described the 'historical miscalculation' as 'regrettable'.