A group established by the Government to make recommendations for what a living wage would look like is exploring the widely heralded Anker Methodology as an area for solutions.

Accepted as the gold standard for measuring living wages and living incomes, the Anker methodology has been adopted by the Global Living Wage Coalition, a collaboration of seven standard setting organisations working to improve wage levels in certified supply chains.

The next major development for the Wage Commission may be related to a Request for Proposal to be issued by the Ministry of Economy and Labour in search of potential vendors who could conduct research.

The commission, chaired by Mischa Fubler, produced the RFP document which is making its way through the Government procurement process.

Mr Fubler has been announced as a Progressive Labour Party candidate for Southampton East Central at the next General Election. He represented the PLP in the Smith’s South by-election last October, losing to Ben Smith of the One Bermuda Alliance.

The Wage Commission has met a handful of times since being empanelled in March, and commissioners have liaised with the Department of Statistics over the Household Income and Expenditure Survey.

The survey is collecting data until the end of the year and Mr Fubler said the department will then need to process survey responses before publishing the results.

He told The Royal Gazette: “The commission was consulted for feedback re the recent position paper on the minimum wage increasing with the rate of inflation.

“We've also been familiarising ourselves with potential methodologies for determining an effective living wage. We're leaning towards using the Anker method, but wanted to cast a wider net to start.

“We’ll be producing a press release to apprise the public of our progress and to appeal for their engagement with the Department of Statistics’ interviewers as some of the data points collected via the Household Income and Expenditure survey are significant inputs into the Anker methodology’s living wage calculation.”

The commissioners have agreed to Nicola Paugh as the deputy chair.

The other members are Andrew Simpson, Phillip Barnett, Shannon Thompson, Steven Holdipp and representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Labour Relations Department.

The Anker Method is the brainchild of Richard Anker and Martha Anker, and relies on how having a credible, transparent benchmark, produced by an objective third party, helps build understanding and galvanises action to improve wages.

It has led to the development around the world of 40 living wage benchmark studies using the Anker methodology in 23 countries.

A partnership has developed between the Anker Living Wage and Income Research Institute and the GLWC Action Network.

The Action Network is a platform for living wage action, comprised of organisations such as non-profits, charities and government entities.

The networks come together through the GLWC to steer the partnership towards achievement of shared objectives and commitments.

• This article has been amended to clarify that the RFP is making its way through the Government procurement process. Further, there will be a processing and publishing of results of the household income and expenditure survey.