Thursday newspaper round-up: National living wage, energy prices, London fintech
More than 300,000 people on low incomes were given a pay boost by the government’s new “national living wage”, dispelling fears that the move to raise minimum salary levels would trigger widespread job losses. The Resolution Foundation said Britain had experienced its biggest fall in low pay since the 1970s following the introduction of the national living wage (NLW), which imposes a floor of £7.50 an hour for employees aged 25 and over. The thinktank found that 5.1 million or 19% of workers were low-paid, down from 5.4 million, or just under 21%, last year, bringing the share of employees who are low-paid below one in five for the first time since the 1980s. - Guardian
The multimillionaire boss of the UK’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken is to be summoned before a parliamentary inquiry after undercover filming revealed poor hygiene standards and altered food safety records. Ranjit Singh Boparan, who founded 2 Sisters Food Group, has been called to give evidence after an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News last month showed workers altering the slaughter date of poultry processed at a plant in West Bromwich and returning chicken that had fallen on to the floor to the production line. – Guardian
The full brunt of the Government’s proposed cap on energy prices may only be felt towards the end of next winter, offering suppliers a stay of execution during which they can move customers to better value deals. The regulator, Ofgem, today vowed to extend its price cap for customers using pre-payment meters to include 1 million households considered socially vulnerable. – Telegraph
Booths, the so-called "Waitrose of the North", has inked a deal with Amazon Fresh that will see the upmarket grocer's product become available for southern shoppers for the first time. The 170-year-old family-owned business has until now shirked expanding across the country. Earlier this year it decided to take its first steps out of the North West with a venture in Malaysia rather than attempt to crack the South. – Telegraph
Leading brands should be made responsible for labour market abuses further down their supply chain, including minimum wage violations, even if they do not directly employ the workers involved, MPs have been told. Matthew Taylor, author of a government review on modern working practices and the gig economy published in July, said he had realised since then that he might have gone further by considering whether large companies should be made jointly liable for illegal practices among their contractors. – The Times
The strength of London’s fintech sector is one of several competitive advantages that make the nation’s capital “Brexit-proof” and means the City could benefit from the UK’s departure from the European Union, according to a new report. Technology, rather than Brexit or regulation, will be far more important in driving change in the market for global financial services, the report by Parker Fitzgerald, the consultancy, says. – The Times