The Living Wage is a bigger factor than the National Minimum Wage in determining pay awards, according to new research.

A third of organisations were more likely to use the living wage and a similar proportion showed support for raising the minimum wage to the level of the living wage this year.

The research fromXpertHR showed that 27.1% of those questioned would benchmark wage rises around the national minimum wage.

The hourly living wage is currently £7.85 outside London and £9.15 in London. From October 2015, the adult national minimum wage will rise from from £6.50 to £6.70 per hour.

But of those questioned 36.5% said the minimum wage should be raised to the level of the living wage.

This was higher than the 30.8% of respondents that thought the rate should be increased in line with inflation; 15.8% in line with average earnings; and 9.4% at a higher level than inflation and/or earnings.

Personnel Today reports that more than two-thirds (68.8%) of respondents wanted the Government to encourage employers to pay workers at least the rate of the living wage, although only 22.9% have an explicit commitment to paying at least the living wage to their direct workforce.