THE giant AccorHotels company announced yesterday that it would apply the government’s so-called living wage to all its staff irrespective of age, but campaigners described the concession as “crumbs from the master’s table.”

The owner of the Ibis and Novotel hotel chains employs 5,000 people in Britain, of whom 16 per cent are aged under 25.

Chancellor George Osborne’s new minimum wage of £7.20 per hour is only mandatory for workers of 25 or over.