Living Wage Week 2020

Living Wage Week is the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement. This year Living Wage Week takes place from Monday 9th to Sunday 15th November 2020. The Living Wage campaign is an independent movement of businesses, organisations and people who believe a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.

The new Living Wage rates have been officially announced! The real Living Wage rises to £9.50 (UK) and £10.85 (London) in pre-Christmas pay bump for over 250,000 people.

The real Living Wage

Back in 2014, the Catsurveys Board committed to become part of the Living Wage Foundation, whereby every employee is provided with a salary that exceeds the National Minimum Wage. Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis - it provides an ethical benchmark for responsible pay.

The real Living Wage is independently calculated based on what employees and their families need to live. This is why it’s higher than the government minimum wage, rebranded as the ‘National Living Wage’.

In 2016 we went one step further by becoming a London Living Wage Employer with an enhanced base hourly rate, even though we are not within the catchment area under the foundations guidance.

We believe that our employees are our most important assets, and they deserve to be rewarded with a level of pay that gives them a better standard of living. Since committing to the Living Wage Foundation accreditation, we have noticed a great increase in staff morale which has benefitted not only our team, but the business too!

“It’s an incredibly challenging time for us all, but today’s new Living Wage rates will give a boost to hundreds of thousands of UK workers, including thousands of key and essential workers like cleaners, care workers, and delivery drivers who have kept our economy going. Since the start of the pandemic employers have continued to sign up to a real Living Wage. During Living Wage Week it’s right that we celebrate those employers that have done right by workers and families, providing them with much needed security and stability even when times are hard. These are the employers that will allow us to recover and rebuild from this crisis.” Laura Gardiner, Living Wage Foundation Director

Key facts

• Since 2011, over £1.3 billion in extra wages has gone to low-paid workers thanks to the Living Wage movement, with £800m going to people in key worker industries
• Nearly £200 million in extra wages has gone to low-paid workers since the start of lockdown [Analysis provided by Cardiff Business School (CBS)]
• Living Wage Foundation research finds that 5.5 million employees (a fifth of employees) are still paid under the real Living Wage