A report by the Cambridge Living Wage Campaign has revealed that, as of August this year, 13 colleges paid some staff a wage below last year’s Real Living Wage (RLW).

The 2022 ‘Taylor’s Table’, published by the Cambridge Students’ Union, states that the lowest possible wage at all these colleges was lower than the £9.90 per hour 2021 RLW.

The RLW, calculated annually by the Living Wage Foundation, is distinct from the £9.50 minimum wage (£9.18 for under-23s), as it takes into account the cost of household goods and services. For 2022, it was calculated as £10.90 for places outside of London (which has a RLW of £11.95, given its higher cost of living).

The SU’s report notes that given Cambridge’s high cost of living, calls have been made for the London rate to be extended to Cambridge as well.

Queens’ was the only college, as of November 2022, that paid all staff above this year’s RLW.

According to the Taylor’s Table, those colleges which pay below £9.90/hour are: Pembroke, St Edmund’s, Churchill, Robinson, St Catharine’s, Homerton, Wolfson, Lucy Cavendish, Fitzwilliam, Emmanuel, Magdalene, Peterhouse, and Clare Hall.

Emmanuel came bottom of the table, with its lowest pay grade being £6.83 per hour.

Speaking to Varsity, however, the Bursar of Emmanuel College, Mike Gross, claimed the SU’s findings are misleading.

Gross detailed: “When I responded to the original Freedom of Information request I explained that this low hourly rate applies to Emmanuel students who volunteer to work in our student-run bar."

“The bar is only open to College members, only operated during Term, aims to breakeven, and is valued for being student-run and having low prices. I am very happy to be led by the Emmanuel student community as to whether these arrangements remain right for us."

Gross noted that if this group were to be excluded “the lowest wage currently paid by the College is £10.11."

As well as this, Andrew Cates, Bursar of Pembroke College, claimed that the SU “messed up their spreadsheet and used data for Pembroke from a previous year."

Cates claimed that the College “have long paid all our staff the Real Living Wage and were one of the first Colleges to adopt it."

He went on to note that the College “did actually notice” the error in the Taylor’s Table, “but I don’t think we bothered to correct it”, adding that the college “cares deeply about our staff but not so much about SU tables."

Mysteriously, however, when responding to a Freedom of Information Request on 24 August this year, the Pembroke College Registrar, Dr Becky Coombs, claimed that “the exact lowest hourly wage paid by the college to casual workers… over the age of 18” was £9.50, below both the 2021 and 2022 RLWs.

Meanwhile, the Director of External Relations and Development at Homerton, a College whose lowest hourly rage is recorded in the Taylor’s Table as £9.18, told Varsity that they pay “all permanent and fixed-term staff the Real Living Wage” and that all “employees including casual staff get free meals on duty, and for catering casual staff the meal is taken during paid work time."

The College also noted that it had, at the end of October, paid staff a one-off amount of £1,000 to help support them during the cost of living crisis.

Similarly, Fitzwilliam College explained that they have “paid staff members a £1,000 cost-of-living payment.”

The College also announced that they “will increase permanent staff members minimum hourly rate to £10.90 in April 2023” and that they are “seeking to be accredited by the Real Living Wage Foundation by the end of 2023.”

The SU’s Welfare and Community Officer, Daisy Thomas, told Varsity that the Living Wage Campaign believes “that all workers should be paid the Real Living Wage, including those on casual contracts or students” and stressed: “There has been no inaccurate reporting of the data, which has all always been publicly available."

Thomas stated that the information in the Taylor’s Table was calculated from Freedom of Information requests “sent in August 2022” and outlined that if “any college, including Pembroke, has since altered their payment rates then they are encouraged to get in contact."

“We would be thrilled to hear if Pembroke has changed their payment since August and now pays the Real Living Wage."

The Cambridge Living Wage Campaign, which drew up the Taylor’s Table, is a campaign group made up of local students, local residents, City Council representatives, and the SU’s Welfare and Community Officer.