Becoming a Living Wage Place
Guest blog by Caitlin Durham, Senior Partnerships & Campaigns Manager, Living Wage Foundation
This blog explores how anchor organisations can help more people out of in-work poverty by becoming Living Wage Employers, and by working together with others in their local area to create Living Wage Places - spreading the benefits of a real Living Wage to even more people in local communities.
The real Living Wage
The real Living Wage campaign began in 2001 with communities in East London and has since expanded with over 15,000 UK employers today already going beyond the statutory minimum to ensure both their regular staff and contracted staff are always paid a real Living Wage, and can live with security and dignity. More than 460,000 employees have received pay increases, putting over £3 billion back into the pockets of low-paid workers. The real Living Wage is the only wage rate in the UK based solely on the cost of living, with current rates set at £12.60 in the UK and £13.85 in London.
Benefits to Living Wage accreditation
There are many benefits to Living Wage accreditation for both employers and communities. Accredited employers report better retention of existing staff and attraction of new staff, as well as improved quality of applications for a job. For workers, earning the real Living Wage means an annual boost of £3,000 for those outside London and £4,700 for those in London compared to the current government minimum wage. The difference this makes is enormous, enabling more people to be able to afford a decent standard of living, as well as improving their productivity at work, their mental health, their relationships with family members, and more.
How do you become a Living Wage employer?
Becoming an accredited Living Wage employer is an easy process and the Living Wage Foundation is on hand to support with this, as well as celebrating employer accreditation once it’s been recognised. There is a sliding scale of accreditation fees depending on the size of an organisation and whether it’s in the private or public sector.
To become accredited organisations need to:
Pay the real Living Wage to all directly employed staff
Have a plan to pay contractors a Living Wage (the Living Wage Foundation can help with this and also connect organisations to a network for peer support)
Complete the application form
Living Wage Places
In addition to promoting Living Wage Employers, Living Wage Places is using a place-based approach to uplift more low-paid workers to the real Living Wage. There is growing consensus that collective efforts within defined geographic places can help redesign the way our local economies work in the interest of local people. Anchor institutions such as hospitals, councils, universities and large local employers are working together with small and medium-sized enterprises, local grassroots groups and the third sector to focus on addressing the rise of in-work poverty and re-build identity and prosperity within local communities.
The Living Wage Places project puts the real Living Wage at the heart of local debates around more inclusive economies, using place as a driver to increase the number of employers signing up to the Living Wage. The recognition scheme includes ‘places’ of all sizes, from buildings and zones to cities and towns. It provides an opportunity for employers to play a role in addressing low pay in the places they operate and to work in partnership to tackle low pay.
Southwark’s journey to becoming a Living Wage Place
Southwark became a Living Wage Place in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the action group to pause and rethink its approach. In March 2022, Southwark Council launched a new Delivery Plan, prioritising the goal of doubling Living Wage employers in the borough. This included providing funding for a dedicated role in the council and establishing a Living Wage Officer Group to raise the campaign's visibility across departments. With support from the Living Wage Foundation, the Southwark group continued developing its membership including engaging Borough Market. Borough Market is now accredited along with 27 of its traders, as well as going on to become Living Hours accredited. Living Hours is the movement alongside the real Living Wage where employers provide secure and guaranteed hours alongside a real Living Wage.
Over the past year, as a result of Living Wage Places, nearly 600 new employers joined the Living Wage movement, resulting in 9,500 wage increases across the UK.
Living Wage Integrated Care Systems
The Living Wage Foundation has also started working directly with Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to embed the Living Wage into commissioning practices, procurement procedures, and workforce packages within the ICS.
This newly formed recognition for Living Wage ICSs applies the model already in place with Living Wage Employers, Living Wage Places, and Living Wage Funders, to a specific health and social care context. To achieve this recognition an ICS would work closely with the Living Wage Foundation and its partners to submit a 3-year action plan setting accreditation targets for the organisations within the ICS, including for NHS Trusts, primary care, and social care.
Find out more at the following links: