Our annual Champion Awards ceremony on June 16th will celebrate and recognise the outstanding contributions individuals and organisations have made to the Living Wage movement. This year, to recognise the contribution of Living Wage Employers and Recognised Service Providers in the fight against Covid-19, we have introduced a new "Covid-19 Stronger Together" award category. We have been blown away by the inspirational stories of organisations who have gone above and beyond to protect and support their communities through the pandemic. We couldn't wait until June to share these with you, so in the lead up to the ceremony, we'll be celebrating their efforts every week.
Recognised Service Providers are championing the Living Wage in the lowest paid service sectors such as cleaning or security, one contract at a time. Offering a Living Wage bid alongside every bid at market rate, they make sure their clients know that paying a Living Wage is always an option, and so make sure that a Living Wage is considered for every worker, in every sector.
This week, we are celebrating the fantastic work done by our Recognised Service Providers to respond to the challenges of the pandemic. Battling food insecurity, supporting children through home-schooling and combating hygiene poverty were just some of the inspiring causes they took up, all while championing the real Living Wage.
Meet the Recognised Service Providers pulling communities through the pandemic.
Cleanology fought hygiene poverty during the pandemic, teaming up with Hygiene Bank and donating a quantity of hand sanitiser amounting to £13,000.
Founder and CEO, Dominic Ponniah, said: "Figures show that one in three people living in the UK have had to go without hygiene essentials, or cut down on purchases for financial reasons. To be in this situation in 2020 is just unacceptable. The greatest challenge is awareness. Long-term, we will continue to support Hygiene Bank, with the goal of eradicating hygiene poverty altogether."
Supacleen chose to recognise their everyday heroes - their teams. Housekeeping teams went above and beyond to support elderly or vulnerable customers, many using their own time to do so; cleaning teams worked hard to keep facilities and businesses open and safe; biohazard teams who bravely decontaminated front line areas to ensure the safety of others.
They said: "United we will emerge from this crisis stronger."
Regular Cleaning work closely with their South East London community. During the pandemic they:
- Supported Voluntary Services Lewisham to bus vulnerable residents to their vaccine appointments, donating 500 packs of sanitiser wipes
- Donated 24 laptops, 2 monitors and 3 tablets to support home schooling
- Donated 4 baskets of fruit per week to frontline NHS staff at Lewisham hospital
BAM FM celebrated the kindness and support of Hannah Connell and her team at East Ayrshire Community Hospital who kept spirits high over the pandemic. They created a dementia friendly garden; put on a cream tea event to cheer up patients and staff; provided NHS AA students free meals when on placement.
Down south, BAM FM partnered with Somerset County Council to provide 2,000 food hampers and assist in the delivery of 40,000 frozen meals to low income families, producing 5,000 over the October half term holiday. Their team worked hard to meet the challenges of delivery, setting up a Covid safe sports hall to do so.
Nominated their Birmingham City University cleaning team, led by Contract Manager Rachel Martin. The team showed an unwavering sense of purpose supporting the university to adapt to lockdowns, reopening and the introduction of mass testing.
Andron Facilities Management supported communities through the pandemic.
- They delivered over 7,000 emergency food packs across Edinburgh & Glasgow in partnership with Social Bite.
- Staff volunteered at NHS Lothian headquarters in Edinburgh, providing cleaning duties and supporting NHS volunteers
- Donated £32,000 to 11 charities that played a key role in supporting vulnerable people during the pandemic.
Facilicom UK turbo-charged their mental health efforts to ensure all staff had access to the support they needed, assigning mental health first aiders who were there to talk to anyone in need. They also launched an 'Inspirational Toolkit' packed full of stories, tips and advice from colleagues, to guide people through this challenging time.
The Clean Space have championed wellbeing during the pandemic, implementing a 'wellbeing working from home' training, as well as coffee break roulette, walking meetings and other initiatives to help boost morale, socialisation and teamwork. They sent out regular notes of gratitude to their cleaners to remind them of how much their work is valued.
Not Just Cleaning does everything in its power to support the communities in which it operates. Early in the pandemic, a neighbouring charity which provides homeless people with support to transform their lives issued an urgent request for donations of PPE to enable their keyworkers to continue their work safely. NJC responded promptly, sourcing items, including hundreds of gloves, face masks, overalls, cleaning equipment and chemicals, which were personally delivered.
Find out more about how our Recognised Service Providers are tackling low pay.
Register to join our online ceremony on 16 June, 6-7.30pm to find out the winners of this category, and many others.