The Romford-based operator, which has more than 150 employees, joins around 9,000 other UK companies which have voluntarily signed up to the scheme.
The wage is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living, determined each year by the Living Wage Foundation.
It is currently £9.90 in the UK, with a higher rate of £11.05 for London. The government’s national living wage for those over 23 years old is currently £8.91, and £8.36 for the under 23s, with no London weighting.
Ocean Holidays Group head of people, Karen Sheehan, said the move is also a way of encouraging more young people to work in the travel industry by offering them a "more meaningful" salary.
In the last year, the group has employed two apprentices, and before it was disbanded in December 2021, took on two employees through the government’s Kickstart Scheme, which provided funding to create jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit.
After successfully passing through these programmes, they would move to the real Living Wage as full-time members of staff.
"This week is National Apprenticeship Week and at Ocean Holidays Group we pride ourselves on offering our under 18-year-old apprentices 60% more than the government apprentice minimum wage," she added.
"By investing in our people, at all levels, not only is it the right thing to do, but we have seen better staff retention levels and been able to attract a greater calibre of new recruits."
