COSMETICS GROUP LUSH ANNOUNCE THEY WILL PAY STAFF A REAL LIVING WAGE GIVING A PAY RISE TO THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYEES
The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that Lush Retail Ltd will accredit as a Living Wage employer on April 1st. This brings the total number of employees in retail who have had
a cost of living pay rise to 25,000.
Lush is also committing to pay the Living Wage to all permanent staff in its manufacturing business, which will see 3,555 Lush workers across the UK (and outside of London) receive a pay rise to £8.45. The rise from £7.40 an hour to £8.45 will give a full-time member of staff on a 40-hour week a £2,184 pay increase a year.
Lush has been paying the Living Wage in London - currently a minimum hourly wage of £9.75 - since 2011. Both of these rates are significantly higher than the statutory minimum for over 25s of £7.20 per hour (due to increase to £7.50 on April 1st). The real Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the real costs of living.
Kim Coles, Global Finance Director at Lush, comments:
"We are delighted to be making this announcement to our lovely, dedicated and enthusiastic staff. It is thanks to all their hard work that we have been able to make this commitment."
Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross-party political support.
Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said:
"Having Lush - an established and forward thinking retailer with such a strong high street presence accredit with the Living Wage Foundation is really significant because it shows that paying a fair wage in the retail sector isn't just achievable it makes business sense too.
"At a time when some large businesses are even falling short of their legal obligations around pay it is important to recognise those fantastic employers who are choosing to go further and pay a real Living Wage. I hope other household retail names will be encouraged to follow the lead taken by Lush so that more and more people can make a Living Wage choice at the checkout.
"There are now over 3,000 UK employers who are signing up to pay a real Living Wage to make sure all their staff earn enough for a decent quality of life. This includes thousands of small businesses as well as big household names like; IKEA, Aviva, and Everton Football Club who pay the real Living Wage as the mark of a responsible employer."
ENDS
Media Contact
Living Wage Monica Brimacombe, monica.brimacombe@citizensuk.org
Notes to Editors
About Lush
Since establishing 22 years ago, Lush has been driven by innovation and its ethics. Creators of pioneering beauty products such as the fizzing bath bomb, shower jellies and solid shampoo bars, Lush places emphasis on fresh ingredients like organic fruits and vegetables. Lush fights tirelessly against animal testing and operates a thoroughly comprehensive Ethical Buying department, supporting Fair Trade and Community Trade initiatives. Lush leads the cosmetics industry in combating over-packaging by running public awareness campaigns and developing products that can be sold 'naked' to the consumer without any packaging.
Lush Digital contribute to and are part of the global open source software community, striving to ensure they use only ethically sourced and powered hardware and take a strong ethical stance on how data should be used and control of privacy given back to the user.
Lush has been awarded the RSPCA Good Business Award for 2006, 2007 and 2009, along with the 2006 PETA Trailblazer Award for Animal Welfare. Co-founders Mark and Mo Constantine were awarded OBEs for services to the beauty industry in the new years honours list 2010. Lush was the winner of the Best in Business Award at the 2014 Observer Ethical Awards, World's Most Ethical Retailer at the 2016 World Retail Congress and the shops and website are regularly voted at the top of Which? magazine's customer service surveys. Lush was also named among the top ten businesses to work for on The Sunday Times Best Big Companies To Work For 2016 list and achieved position 28 in 2017.
Today Lush operates in 49 countries with 931 shops, 38 websites shipping worldwide and a global network of native apps, broadcasting channels and digital communities in over 30 languages. www.lush.com
About the Living Wage Foundation
The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The real Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. Employers choose to pay this wage on a voluntary basis. The real Living Wage enjoys cross party support.
The London Living Wage is currently £9.75 per hour. This figure covers all boroughs in Greater London. The UK Living Wage for outside of London is currently £8.45 per hour. These figures are calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission, based on the best available evidence on living standards in London and the UK.
The Living Wage Foundation recognises and celebrates the leadership shown by Living Wage employers across the UK. There are currently 3000 accredited employers. We are an initiative of Citizens UK. We believe that a fair day's work deserves a fair day's pay and support responsible employers to voluntarily pay the Living Wage so their employees can earn enough to meet the cost of living.
We receive guidance and advice from the Living Wage Advisory Council. The Foundation is supported by our Principal Partners: Aviva; IKEA; Joseph Rowntree Foundation; KPMG; Linklaters; Nationwide; Nestle; GSK; Burberry; Resolution Foundation; Oxfam; Trust for London; and Queen Mary University of London.
What about the Government's national living wage?
"There are now over 3,000 UK employers who are signing up to pay a real Living Wage to make sure all their staff earn enough for a decent quality of life. This includes thousands of small businesses as well as big household names like; IKEA, Aviva, and Everton Football Club who pay the real Living Wage as the mark of a responsible employer."