In June 2007, Barclays introduced a market-leading base pay rate of £7.50 per hour for its third-party employees working in Greater London.

Around 1,000 cleaning, mailroom, gym and catering employees working across 370 Barclays branches and offices throughout London directly benefit from the increase, which came into effect on 1 July 2007.

This means Barclays hourly base rate is £1.98 per hour higher than the UK government's minimum wage of £5.52 and 30p per hour more than the London Living Wage recommended in 2007 by the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

Although the employees who benefit are not directly employed by Barclays, we believe we have a responsibility to ensure that they receive a fair, well-rounded remuneration package.

Barclays worked with union Unite (Amicus section), to introduce the increase, which equates to a 20% rise for some employees.

Atkins Asset Management and Johnson Controls manage Barclays suppliers in Greater London. The suppliers involved in the deal include Mitie, Lancaster, Initial, Mail Source, Restaurant Associates, Ararmark, Bannatyne's and Baxter Storey.

The deal followed our work with the Transport and General Workers Union in 2006 when we developed a new pay and benefits package for cleaners in our UK branch network.