THE Archbishop of York unveiled plans yesterday to win a living wage for one million more workers — but stopped short of demanding that the government make it the legal minimum. 

Dr John Sentamu described working poverty as a “national scandal” as he launched the Living Wage Commission’s final report. 

The conclusions of a year long study argues employers can afford to pay 500,000 public-sector workers and 600,000 private-sector staff the living wage by 2020.

The current rate is set at £7.65 across most of Britain and £8.80 in London. 

Boosting workers’ pay in the public sector would be made cost neutral by increased tax revenues and reduced in-work benefits and would increase the wage bill of some firms by just 0.5 per cent, the report says. 

Dr Sentamu said: “If the government now commits to making this hope a reality, we can take a major step towards ending the strain on all of our consciences. 

“Low wages equals living in poverty.”

But the commission does not argue for the living wage — the minimum at which people need to stay out of poverty — to be enshrined in law. 

And, according to the commission’s own figures, that would leave 80 per cent of Britain’s five million low-paid workers with no extra cash. 

The British Chambers of Commerce, which contributed to the report, argued that the living wage is unaffordable for the retail and hospitality sectors.

Director of policy Dr Adam Marshall said that business should not face “compulsion or regulation, which could lead to job losses and difficulties particularly for younger people entering the labour market.”

Economist Andrew Fisher said the refusal to back a boost for all was why “trade unions, not reports, will win the living wage.”

He told the Star: “The refusal of this commission to back basic dignity for workers in the retail and hospitality clearly demonstrates that a fair day’s pay won’t be delivered from on high by benevolent leaders, but will be won through workers’ struggles.

“The tax dodging brands that litter our high street pay their executives seven figure salaries, hide their profits in tax havens, and plead poverty when it comes to giving their workers dignity.”