Living Wage Foundation hits monumental milestone after year of significant growth. The Living Wage Foundation celebrates its 5,000th Living Wage employer, with Britain's largest single site university, The University of Manchester, joining the growing movement of responsible businesses.
The commitment to pay the real Living Wage will see everyone working at the University, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors, receive a minimum hourly wage of £9. This is significantly higher than the government minimum wage of £7.83 for 25 year olds and £7.38 for 21 year olds.
The number of accredited Living Wage employers has now more than doubled since the Government's higher minimum wage, the 'National Living Wage', was announced in 2016. At least 180,000 workers have had a pay rise from the 5,000 accredited Living Wage employers, with over £800m extra put back into workers' pockets as a result of the campaign.
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The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:
"It's great to see an organisation as high-profile as The University of Manchester become the latest Living Wage employer in the city-region.
" As good as this news is, there are still too many workers who are paid less than the real Living Wage struggling to keep their heads above water. In the North West alone, around a quarter of all workers earn below the real Living Wage, with about 265,000 people in Greater Manchester earning too little to live on."
"In one of the world's richest nations, it should be a source of national shame that so many working people are worrying about putting food on the table, with some forced to use foodbanks."
"I want to make Greater Manchester a place where everyone can get on, and since becoming Mayor I have been dedicated to tackling in-work poverty in the city-region. Leaders across Greater Manchester have agreed a Good Employment Charter to encourage and support employers to identify and provide good jobs, deliver opportunities for people to progress and develop, and help the city-region become more productive. Employers are encouraged to sign up, and let's make Greater Manchester a real Living Wage city-region."
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: "The University is a major employer in the city and we take our responsibility to promote good working practises extremely seriously."Social responsibility is a core goal of our university, and by becoming accredited with the Living Wage Foundation we have a real opportunity to influence policy in a national forum and have conversations about the benefits that good pay and working conditions bring to individuals and wider society."
Living Wage Foundation Director, Katherine Chapman said:
"We're delighted to welcome The University of Manchester as the 5,000th member of the movement of employers, organisations and people committed to a real Living Wage. Reaching 5,000 employers is a historic milestone for the Living Wage campaign. It shows that businesses continue to recognise the importance of a wage that truly covers the cost of living, and the value this provides for workers and their families, as well as businesses.
"By going further than the government minimum The University of Manchester is helping to set the bar for others in the region and the sector. We encourage employers who can afford it to step up and pay a real Living"
Only the real Living Wage is independently-calculated based on what employees and their families need to live. The rate is calculated annually based on the best available evidence on living standards in the UK and London. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis.