Coastline Housing is the first housing provider and the 7th employer so far to sign up to the Living Wage Foundation’s new Living Pension accreditation. Coastline Housing is an independent Cornish charitable housing association owning and managing 5,000 homes.
The Living Pension is a voluntary savings target for employers who want to help workers, especially those on low pay, build up a pension pot that will provide enough income to meet basic everyday needs in retirement. It launched in March 2023.
The Living Pension savings target is 12% of a full time Living Wage worker’s salary, of which the employer pays in at least 7%. This builds on auto-enrolment, where the employer is only required to contribute 3%. The Living Pension savings target can also be implemented as a cash amount of £2,550 a year. The employer contributes at least £1,488 to this cash amount.
Coastline is the first employer to use the cash target to ensure all workers are meeting the Living Pension savings standard within their pension and benefits offering, regardless of their earnings. This has resulted in 76 (21%) of its 366 workers seeing an increase in their annual contribution. The Association is also going further by paying the minimum employer contribution of £1488 per year, even where workers aren’t paying contributions themselves. As a result, 50 workers who were previously opted out are now getting pension contributions to help them achieve security and stability in retirement.
Nathan Mallows, Coastline Director of Finance, People and Change, said:
"We are very excited to be able to include this offer within our total benefits package. As a responsible employer, we understand that even though we aim to support colleagues with our pension scheme, there can be obstacles to putting aside money every month. Signing-up to the Living Pension accreditation allows us to transform provision for retirement to secure a much-improved future standard of living for our employees."
Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said:
“We are delighted that Coastline has signed up as one of the first Living Pension employers, providing stability and security for their workers now and in the future. Over the last ten years the Living Wage campaign has grown in strength and numbers. Now paid by over 12,500 employers, it delivers essential pay rises to 430,000 workers every year. The Living Pension builds on this by encouraging employers to do more to help their workers build a pension pot that meets basic everyday needs in retirement.”
Katy Taylor, Director at Isio who has worked with Coastline on the trial, added:
“It’s been an honour to work with Coastline and help the organisation achieve its ambition of providing an acceptable retirement income. Employers are increasingly becoming aware of their responsibility to support the financial wellbeing of their employees, not only with a living wage, but by providing an inclusive and fair reward package which is effective at every stage of their career. We hope Coastline’s successful implementation encourages others to review their approach and help reduce the number of workers who may be forced into poverty when they retire.”
ENDS
Media contact: matt.ford@livingwage.org.uk / 07507478967