Buckingham Palace advertises for new gardener... who will earn less than the London Living Wage

Buckingham Palace is advertising for a gardener where the successful candidate will earn less than the recommended London Living Wage.

An advert has been placed on the Royal Household website for a live in gardener with a salary of £17,000, which works out at £8.72 an hour for a 37-and-a-half-hour working week.

This is £1.03 less than the voluntary London Living Wage as advised by the Living Wage Foundation, but £1.52 more than the Government’s National Living Wage.

However, the £17,000 salary will also be docked to pay for live in accommodation. A spokesman for the Palace would not confirm how much the wage would be docked.

It comes after it was announced last week that Buckingham Palace will get a £369 million overhaul funded by the Government.

The announcement followed an independent report by specialists which concluded that "urgent work" is needed to allay the "risk of serious damage" to the Palace.