AROUND one in five people earns less than the living wage in South Somerset, according to the Trade Union Centre’s analysis of official figures from the House of Commons Library.

The figures, released to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the minimum wage, show 18.3% of people in South Somerset earn less than £7.65 an hour.

South Somerset lies behind West Somerset (34.9%) and Mendip (25.8%), with a slightly lower percentage of people in Taunton Deane (18.2%) earning less than the living wage.