By Katie Spencer, Sky News Reporter
Around 35,000 people are set to benefit from a 20p rise in the UK living wage, but more than five million people are still earning below its hourly basic rate of £7.85.
Care worker Perrine Roland told Sky News about the struggles she used to have "living in poverty" on the national minimum adult wage of £6.50.
She said: "Sometimes, at the end of the month, I wouldn't have enough money for food so I would have to ask people to help me."
Today her current employer, Penrose Care, pays her the living wage, one of more than 1,000 employers to adopt the voluntary rate.
"Now I'm living in a very nice house share. I have my own room and it's really improved my standard of living," she said.
The living wage is now set at £7.85 an hour in the UK outside London - significantly higher than the minimum wage of £6.50 an hour for those over 21 and £5.13 for those aged 18 to 20. A new living wage rate for London is to be set later today.
While the minimum wage is legally enforceable, the living wage shows the minimum pay rates workers need to lead a decent life.
The living wage is currently calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, while the London living wage has been calculated by the GLA since 2005.
Robert Stephenson-Padron, the managing director of Penrose Care, says his company's decision to adopt the wage is about "respecting the humanity of our workers".
He insists there are benefits for both employee and employer.
"We've had extremely low staff turnover, we've got exceptional care workers, and that's really flowed through into the quality of care we provide."
The number of companies signed up to pay the living wage has more than doubled this year. It includes firms like Google, Barclays and food giant Nestle.
Campaigners have targeted chains like Ritzy Cinema, Tesco and Amazon for not signing up.
Bex Hay, from Amazon Anonymous, believes employers must face up to how people are struggling.
"A lot of workers talk about earning 1p over the minimum wage," she told Sky News.
"That doesn't allow them to meet costs of raising family, paying rent and all their bills. They have to work a lot of overtime, lots of seven days a week, long hours, it's demoralising and degrading."
The argument from small businesses is that, given the UK's sluggish economy, they would struggle to pay more than the minimum wage of £6.50 an hour.
However, campaigners are adamant that figure no longer reflects the real cost of living.
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