One Christian employer described news the rate will rise by 25p an hour to £9 outside London as a "wonderful day" for workers affected.
Tim Thorlby from Clean for Good - one of 4,700 UK voluntary living wage employers - told Premier the rate is a welcome alternative to the minimum wage.
He said: "The difference is, as the name suggests, that on a real living wage you can actually live on it. The issue with the minimum wage is that it's now actually a poverty wage; you can't live on it."
"When I was in my 20s, poverty was associated with unemployment but today there are actually more people who are working every day in poverty. In work poverty has actually become a big deal."
Our new 2018/19 rates are out! Both our UK and London #LivingWage rate has risen – Find out what the new rates are! #LivingWageWeek https://t.co/t5SHwN1CDQ pic.twitter.com/EK8bKNk6MK
— Living Wage Foundation (@LivingWageUK) November 5, 2018
The rate will rise by 35p per hour to £10.55 within London, according to the Living Wage Foundation - which said higher transport costs, private rents and council tax were attributing factors.
The Church Urban Fund - a charity set up by the Church of England to serve deprived areas of the country - welcomed the increase as a "positive step".
Chief Executive, Canon Paul Hackwood told Premier the Bible supports fair pay for all.
He said: "We have this commitment to equality of some kind; it's there in the scriptures and we have to take note of it.
"It's there in the prophets, it's there in the story of Jesus. There is no way of escaping that everyone in a society which calls itself Christian should be included."
The new rates are £2.72 above the statutory National Living Wage for workers in London and £1.17 higher for the rest of the UK.
Click here to listen to Premier's Alex Williams speaking with Canon Paul Hackwood at the Church Urban Fund:
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