A FAIRER WAY
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The Living Wage Foundation's Sarah Vero
on their current campaigns.
million British people still do not have enough money to
“ Encouraging employers
to sign up has never
been so important.”
Sarah Vero, Living Wage Foundation.
We think that employers need to help address this by taking
make ends meet, inevitably leading to debt and food poverty.
responsibility for providing a living wage – in a move that
As a campaigning charity we want to change this – by
working with employers, employees and trade unions to
Foundation works hard to highlight the clear links between low
pay and poverty. In this post, from February 2015, they explain
why they’re continuing to lobby for a fairer system and how
they’re asking employers and consumers to play their part.
Maximising income is an essential part of any debt
management planning and the campaign for a living wage
has become an increasingly important voice in conversations
around financial capability.
Founded by members of pressure group, CitizensUK, in 2001,
the charity tried to address inequality in the way British workers
of all kinds are paid. By encouraging employers to consider a
advice and support to companies looking at ways of doing
Visit livingwage.org.uk to find
out more about the campaign.
this, including accreditation in the form of our Living Wage
lobby for a better standard of pay. While the minimum wage
Employer Mark. It works in a similar way to the Fairtrade
(£6.50 per hour) is of course, a positive legislative force, the
system – highlighting best practice for employees and giving
rising cost of living means it doesn’t guarantee many
a clear signal to consumers who want to make an informed
households the income they need. That’s why we encourage
decision about where to spend their money.
employers to work towards a living wage instead. Based on
As an increasingly influential campaign group, The Living Wage
benefits not just them but society as a whole. We can provide
the cost of essentials like food and fuel it is currently set at
£7.85 per hour (£9.15 for London) and is re-calculated every
November as part of Living Wage week.
With more people than ever feeling the effects of low pay
and zero hours contracts, encouraging employers to sign up
has never been so important. Maximising income is often
cited as an important part of debt management and
promoting financial capability.
But when people are working several jobs, clocking up many,
many hours just to try and earn something resembling a living
wage, taking on more work simply isn’t an option. Once
households have cut back on essentials such as food and
We can also partner with unions, including the TUC, to help
to ensure accreditation is permanent – not just a one-off or
token gesture. Ultimately, we want signing up to be seen as
something to be proud of, a matter of doing business well
and promoting best practice.
The response has been really positive and in the last two years
we’ve seen 1,200 companies sign up from a range of sectors,
including finance, law, banking and other professional services, in
addition to more traditional areas like hospitality, retail and cleaning.
At Christmas we took the Living Wage campaign to the
Football Association (FA), highlighting the fact that while
the majority of footballers are extremely well-paid, the
other club staff are often working below living wage level.
living wage and raising awareness among consumers about
heating, what else can they do? Food poverty is a big issue
businesses that pay fairly, they hope to improve the financial
too. We see parents going without food so that their children
status of all indebted working people. Here, the Living Wage
are fed and people relying on poor quality food; resulting in
Foundation’s Sarah Vero shares more about their aims and
poor behaviour and limiting people’s ability to work and learn.
Our advocacy and support team also support low wage
Access to affordable credit is another area of concern. Many
debt advice. We try and involve Living Wage members in
views as well as highlights from recent campaigns.
As a result, Chelsea and Hearts Football Clubs are both
accredited and we hope many others will follow suit.
workers directly by signposting people towards sources of
“At the Living Wage Foundation we believe that work should
people affected by low pay are driven to unregulated or
negotiations and media campaigns, like the FA work, by
be the surest route out of poverty. But the sad fact is that
expensive sources of credit including payday loans and door
asking them to share their stories and help us bring these
despite having a job – or sometimes several jobs – five
to door lending.
important issues to life.”
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UKAR ARENA SPRING 2015
SPRING 2015 UKAR ARENA
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