Christian Aid is delighted to announce that it has been accredited as a Living Wage employer.
The international development charity, which employs 536 staff across the UK, has committed to pay all UK employees, third-party contractors and suppliers the minimum hourly wage of £7.85, significantly higher than the national minimum wage of £6.50.
Martin Kyndt, Director of Strategy and People Management at Christian Aid said,
In our work to eradicate poverty and social injustice we strive to ensure all people are given an opportunity to earn a living wage. Accordingly, we have a responsibility to ensure all our UK based staff, and others who work with us, are fairly rewarded. Gaining the Living wage accreditation means that we hold ourselves accountable, ensuring salaries reflect our commitment to fairness. We hope other employers will be inspired to join the scheme.
The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. It is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the 'Minimum Income Standard' for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.
Living Wage Foundation Director, Rhys Moore said:
"We are delighted to welcome Christian Aid to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer. The best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the Living Wage now because it is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day's work with a fair day's pay. We have accredited over 1,100 leading employers, including Christian Aid, ranging from independent printers, bookshops and breweries, to well-known companies such as Nationwide, Aviva and SSE. These businesses recognise that clinging to the national minimum wage is not good for business. Customers and communities expect better than that.