WORKERS across Dorset have seen a dramatic fall in pay with those in Poole earning nearly 12 per cent less in real terms than six years ago.

Wages in Bournemouth have dropped by 3.7 per cent and those in the Dorset County Council area by 2.8 per cent according to research by the TUC.

“Across Dorset families are really struggling to make their money go far enough, and are often having to go into debt, as they experience a huge squeeze on their household incomes,” said TUC regional secretary Nigel Costley.

“Most people are being forced to use their credit cards or their dwindling savings to purchase anything beyond the most everyday of items.”

The average hourly pay is now £10.77 in Poole, £10.66 in Bournemouth and £10.52 in Dorset.

Next week’s TUC congress will see unions push for decent and fair wages in the UK.

The figures have been released as a new report reveals one in five British workers earns below the so-called living wage.

Using the most recent figures available the study found 25% of women and 15% of men were paid below the living wage in April last year, when the benchmark was calculated as £7.20 an hour outside London.

In total 4.8 million Britons, 20% of employees, were paid at a level below the rate deemed necessary for a basic standard of living, an increase from 3.4 million in 2009.

Unlike the minimum wage, it is up to employers to decide whether their staff are paid the living wage, which is currently £7.45 an hour or £8.55 in London.

The report by the Resolution Foundation think-tank found 77% of employees aged under 20 earned less than the living wage.

Two-thirds of restaurant and hotel workers (67%) were paid below the benchmark, the study found.

The report's author Matthew Whittaker, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: ''Britain has a sorry story to tell on low pay. Only a handful of our close competitors do worse and the large majority have much lower rates of low pay - sometimes half as much.

''The challenge for all parties is to find ways of boosting rates of pay, especially for those who earn less, without putting economic growth at risk.''