LOW-paid workers at Blackburn with Darwen Council are set to get a pay rise next spring thanks to the borough’s “Local Living Wage”.

Their hourly rate should rise on April 1 from £7.65 to £7.85 – which compares to Chancellor George’s Osborne new minimum hourly rate of £7.20 being introduced from April.

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But the new local figure is well short of the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended £8.25 an hour.

The latest increase, matching a 20p an hour rise in April this year, is due to be approved by the borough’s annual Policy Council meeting on Thursday.

Tory group leader Mike Lee expressed concern at the rise at a time when the borough was reducing services because of cuts in Whitehall grants.

He said: “We all want to see council staff paid a decent wage. However, I cannot see at this time why we should be moving faster than George Osborne’s plans for a national minimum living wage of £9 a hour by 2020.”

But borough Liberal Democrat leader David Foster backed the move, which will affect the lowest paid of the council’s 2,500-strong workforce, including part-timers.

He said: “It is the right thing to do as long as we can afford it.”

Council finance boss Andy Kay said the rise “enables our employees to have a relatively decent wage and reduces the burden on the tax credit and benefits system”.

Meanwhile, the Corporate Plan, which will be proposed on Thursday by Labour leader Mohammed Khan, will reaffirm six priorities: n Creating more jobs and supporting business growth; n Improving housing quality and building more homes; n Improving health and well-being; n Improving outcomes for our young people; n Safeguarding the most vulnerable; and n Making money go further.

The plan reaffirms the council’s commitment to fairness, equality and working in partnership with residents and businesses.

Cllr Lee said: “You can’t disagree with the priorities, it’s all ‘mum and apple pie’.

“The problem has been delivering on them and that is what the council’s must work on.”