Welcome to the Living Wage Campaign
www.lincolnagainstpoverty.co.uk/livingwage
What is the Lincoln Living Wage Campaign? Launched in 2015, the campaign encourages businesses to pay the Living Wage. Unlike the Minimum Wage of £7.20 (which is also referred to as the national living wage), the Living Wage of £8.25 an hour is set at a rate that enables employees to meet the basic cost of living in the UK. What is the difference between the National Living Wage / Minimum Wage and the Living Wage we are campaigning for? The National Living Wage announced in the summer budget is in effect an uprated minimum wage that started at £7.20 from April 2016, and will rise to £9 an hour by 2020. Unlike the Living Wage we are campaigning for, it is overseen by the Low Pay Commission, which calculates the rate according to what the market can bear. The Living Wage we are campaigning for: The Living Wage we are campaigning for is £8.25 an hour outside London. This is the 2016 rate, and already not far off the £9 minimum wage that won’t be available until 2020.
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The Living Wage Campaign
What are the benefits?
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Why is the Living Wage good for employers?
What are the benefits? Why is the Living Wage good for employers?
Paying the Living Wage can decrease the rate of staff turnover – if staff feel valued, engaged and rewarded, it can increase loyalty
Why is the Living Wage good for the local economy?
Staff may be less likely to leave, so time and expenses can be saved on recruiting new staff members Staff absences and sick days may decrease Valued staff can be more productive and have higher morale Organisations can be promoted as ‘ethical’ employers, adding credibility to a company brand Businesses will be promoted as Living Wage employers by City of Lincoln Council Businesses can display the Lincoln Living Wage accredited logo on their website or promotional materials, making themselves instantly more attractive to work for. This also affirms business’s commitment to contributing towards developing the local economy in Lincoln Your business can be more attractive to customers
The Living Wage Campaign
Why the Living Wage is good for employees?
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You will appear on the Lincoln Living Wage register - a prestigious list of businesses in Lincoln
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Why is the Living Wage good
The Living Wage Campaign
What are the benefits? Why is the Living Wage good for employers?
for the local economy?
Why is the Living Wage good for the local economy? Why the Living Wage is good for employees?
The Living Wage provides more income to staff, enabling them to spend more money on vital goods and services. Spending extra disposable income locally gives the economy a noticeable boost
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Higher income instantly makes the city a more desirable place to work, attracting people to move, live or work within the city, and helping to grow the local economy
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Why is the Living Wage good for employees?
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The Living Wage Campaign
What are the benefits? Why is the Living Wage good for employers? Why is the Living Wage good for the local economy? Why the Living Wage is good for employees?
The easiest solution to helping people living in poverty or with low disposable income is to provide job and work opportunities. • The Living Wage scheme allows people living in deprivation or with limited means the opportunity to provide a more comfortable lifestyle for themselves, their family and other dependents • By providing a higher income and therefore a better quality of life, employees feel more relaxed and less anxious about financial problems. Employee attendance at work may also improve
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The Living Wage Campaign
What are the benefits? Lincoln is a great city, but like many areas, we have some challenges we want to address. The Lincoln Living Wage will help us to improve lives for people living and working in the city.
Why is the Living Wage good for employers? Why is the Living Wage good for the local economy? Why the Living Wage is good for employees?
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Social Change UK Social Change UK is a social research and marketing company working in the UK, Europe and beyond. They specialise in carrying out social research to design campaigns that build emotional connections and encourage people to think and act. Since founding the business six years ago, Director Kelly Evans has always paid staff the
Living Wage, in line with her philosophy that small things have the biggest effect. “I’ve always tried to pay above the minimum wage. The Living Wage Foundation is something I’ve always followed and believed in. “We’re a business that promotes social business aims – businesses need to balance profit with responsibility. That responsibility is also to your staff and paying them a decent wage that they can afford to live on.
“Paying staff what they deserve makes them feel more motivated.” If they’re not being paid to a level that would give them a good standard of living, as a business you’re going to feel the effects of that. Poor mental health, low attendance, sickness, general ill feeling and negative team working. “As a small, growing business I can’t pay the wages large and established companies pay, but I want the staff to come with me on that journey and
their pay will grow as we grow. I’m an advocate for the Living Wage but it’s only part of a bigger picture of how you recruit and retain staff, by also providing the right personal and professional development opportunities. “To other businesses, I would say that paying the Living Wage will cost you slightly more than the national minimum wage, but it will save you money in the longer term. “I’ve had staff who have been able to move out of shared accommodation, buy a property, buy a car, have more of a life. Those are the kind of things that are motivating, not the salary but what they can do with it. They can live better, and that has a positive knock-on effect at work.” “In Lincoln we need to attract more people to come to the city to work. At the moment, students are coming here but leaving after graduation. The university draws them in, then there’s a lack of opportunities. It is improving but a lot more needs to be done. The Living Wage is an opportunity for businesses not a burden.”
The Living Wage Campaign What are the benefits? Case Studies Social Change UK Ruddocks Print & Design Voluntary Centre Services
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Ruddocks Design + Print Established in 1880, Ruddocks Print & Design is a well-known company in Lincoln, providing creative and print services both locally and nationally. They signed up to pay the Living Wage in 2015, resulting in two of their 43 staff receiving a pay rise. Managing Director Paul Banton is also President of the Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce, which is where he heard about the Living Wage.
“I felt it was the right thing to do. When someone is on a weekly wage, a small increase in wages doesn’t make a huge difference to the employer, but it makes a big difference to the employee and benefits the company in the longer term. “It helps with retention because people who are paid well feel a sense of loyalty. It’s really important to treat people well in terms of pay, offering a pension scheme and good working conditions. If you’re good to people, you get that back in effort and people will stay longer. “My advice to other businesses is that you should pay the Living Wage if you can afford it. There are businesses that struggle but if you’re employing staff, your staffing ought to be set at the right level to pay people correctly.
“Paying your staff fairly means they can take their wages home and not worry about the cost of living. You’re doing your bit as an employer.” “Pay may not be the main criteria for staff happiness but poor pay can be a big driving factor in staff leaving. And also there is the cost to the business of recruitment. A little bit more in wages is probably balanced by the savings made in not having to constantly recruit. “We’ve got our own challenges within Lincoln, particularly around retention of graduates. If we pay decent wages it will help to keep that talent we’re nurturing here in the city. “There are benefits to company reputation as well. Ruddocks has got a really good name in the city for treating people right. If we weren’t paying people well it would be detrimental to that reputation we’ve worked so hard to build. That reputation as an employer, supplier, customer, and a community business really matters.”
The Living Wage Campaign What are the benefits? Case Studies Social Change UK Ruddocks Print & Design Voluntary Centre Services
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Voluntary Centre Services Voluntary Centre Services supports volunteers and voluntary and community organisations across West Lincolnshire. As well as operating accredited Volunteer Centres in Lincoln, Gainsborough and Sleaford that deal with over 2,000 volunteer enquiries each year, VCS offers help to anyone wishing to set up a group, wanting funding
advice, or wanting access to news and networks in the voluntary and community sectors. VCS Chief Executive Ben Barley believes paying the Living Wage increases staff loyalty and productivity, and is important to show potential funders that an organisation values its workforce. “The main thing is that it reflects the value of the staff and what they contribute to the organisation. We’ve found it works really well for staff retention. It’s very rare we have staff members leave and when they do, they move onto a higher role somewhere else. Staff turnover is low, which is really positive. “Sickness levels are also relatively low and whenever we recruit, we generally receive good applicants. It means when we’re recruiting we don’t have to pay for expensive adverts .
“Paying the Living Wage has a positive effect on staff morale and staff work harder as a result” Our staff feel valued and they demonstrate a real commitment to the organisation – it shows in terms of productivity, which maximises the standard we can deliver as an organisation.” VCS joined the Living Wage Register in 2015, having always paid the Living Wage to its dozen staff based in Lincoln, Gainsborough and Sleaford. “It demonstrates to organisations who might want to work with us or fund the work we do, that we’re paying a fair wage. If more organisations signed up it would give a positive perception of the businesses within Lincoln, showing that people can come and work in the city and earn a decent wage without having to move out of the area to find higher paid employment.”
The Living Wage Campaign What are the benefits? Case Studies Social Change UK Ruddocks Print & Design Voluntary Centre Services
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The Living Wage Campaign
What are the benefits?
The form below will only take a couple of minutes to complete. Once you have filled it in, the following details will be added to our public Lincoln Living Wage Register By completing this form, you are pledging to pay the Living Wage to all your staff, which is currently set at £8.25 per hour. Once you have signed your organisation up to the Lincoln Living Wage Register, we will send you a Living Wage Accreditation Logo which can be displayed on your website, on letterheads, on premises entrances and other promotional materials. Enhanced accreditation is available for those organisations whose main suppliers also pay the Living Wage, and for those organisations that have banned the use of zero hour contracts (except in the case of relief / casual contracts, where the employee is freely available to refuse hours).
Name:
Why do you pay the Living Wage?:
Case Studies We will tell you if things change: Yes
I confirm my organisation is based in Lincoln: Yes
Job Title:
Video
No
Sign up
No
Sector: Digital
Organisation:
Organisation’s Email:
My organisation pays the Living Wage to all it’s employees aged 21 and over (with the exception of those on apprenticeships or training programmes): Yes
No
My organisation has banned the use of zero hour contracts: Website:
Facebook:
Yes
My organisation uses zero hour contracts, but only for relief staff, and employees are freely available to turn down any hours (select “yes” if you agree): Yes
Twitter:
No
No
My organisation’s main suppliers pay the Living Wage: Yes
No
Number of staff: Number of staff on relief / casual zero hour contracts: Number of wages adjusted as a result of this campaign: Before submitting please read and acknowledge that you have understood the following terms and conditions and disclaimer: Terms and conditions
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Print Postal Address: The Corporate Policy Unit City of Lincoln Council City Hall Beaumont Fee Lincoln LN1 1DD
