The Living Wage Foundation and Living Wage Scotland have today launched a new toolkit to help local areas become Living Wage Places, with support from Carnegie UK Trust.
Living Wage Places: A Toolkit on Tackling Low Pay by Celebrating Local Action is aimed at businesses and communities that are interested in developing a place-based approach to increasing the number of people earning a real Living Wage, and tackling in-work poverty.
Since the launch of Dundee in March as the first place recognised for its plans to build a Living Wage City, there has been a wave of interest from localities across the UK, including the UK's first Living Wage Building in Brixton, and Glenrothes - the first town recognised for its plans to become a Living Wage Town.
Cities, towns and boroughs are recognised for Making a Living Wage Place when a group of local employers, led by the council and including other anchor institutions such as hospitals, universities, transport providers, cultural and sport organisations, agree to accredit as Living Wage Employers and work together on a plan to increase accreditations locally.
Living Wage Buildings and Living Wage Zones gain accreditation when 100% of businesses working from them pay at least the Living Wage/London Living Wage to all of their direct and contracted staff.
The Living Wage Foundation and Living Wage Scotland have spent the past two years scoping out the Living Wage Places scheme and working with pilots, with support from Carnegie UK Trust.
Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: "There is a growing consensus that collective efforts within defined geographic places can help re-design the way our local economies work.
"Living Wage Places is an important new scheme which uses place identity to increase Living Wage accreditations and tackle low pay, benefitting families, communities and local economies. We have already seen the impact on local areas when major anchor institutions such as councils or universities accredit as Living Wage Employers and use their local influence to encourage other local employers to join them. The Living Wage Places scheme is now creating clusters of accredited Living Wage Employers throughout the country and has the potential to shift the low pay landscape in the UK."
Chief executive of Carnegie UK Trust Sarah Davidson said: "The Carnegie UK Trust has been delighted to support the Living Wage Places initiative, which will have a significant impact in helping many more workers across the UK to receive a fair wage. This new toolkit provides a practical and valuable resource to help cities, towns, boroughs, zones and buildings begin their journey towards becoming Living Wage Places and we look forward to following their progress'.
Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, hosts of Living Wage Scotland: "Employers across all sectors and industries continue to join the Living Wage employer movement by becoming accredited Living Wage Employers, signalling a shared belief that wages should reflect living costs. The Living Wage Places model encourages accredited employers to work together to promote the benefits of paying the real Living Wage in the areas and places where they operate. As the movement across Scotland and the UK continues to grow, we are delighted to launch a Living Wage Places toolkit that offers practical advice for local employers to grow this movement in their community."
The toolkit explains in detail the Living Wage Place models that have been established by the Living Wage Foundation and Living Wage Scotland, including Living Wage Buildings and Living Wage Zones, and includes helpful advice for those wanting to get started in their local areas.
For more information on Living Wage Places contact:
Clare Goff (England, Wales, Northern Ireland): Clare.goff@livingwage.org.uk
Lynn Anderson: (Scotland): Lynn.anderson@povertyalliance.org
Toolkit: Living Wage Places
A toolkit on tackling low-pay through local action, so that areas across the UK can begin their own Living Wage Places journey.
