Council opts to pay new Living Wage early
North Ayrshire Council has committed to paying its staff the new Living Wage five months early, writes Colin Smeeton.
To mark the start of Living Wage Week – the new rate of £9.30 per hour was announced on Monday, a rise of 30p per hour on the current rate of £9.
And although the new rate is not due to be adopted by businesses and organisations until April 2020, the council has committed to applying this rate of pay from this week.
North Ayrshire Council chief executive Craig Hatton said: ‘We are very proud to ensure our staff not only get the Real Living Wage but they get it as soon as possible.
‘Normally, the new rate doesn’t kick in for quite a few months but if we are serious about reducing inequality and poverty, then we have to lead by example.
‘We are North Ayrshire’s largest single employer and we want to be a council which is Fair For All – so making sure our lowest-paid workers receive a wage which can help support a decent standard of living is absolutely the right thing to do.’
The council has paid the Living Wage since 2011 and is one of a number of local authorities from across Scotland to be officially accredited by the Scottish Living Wage Accreditation Initiative.
The living wage is an independently-calculated figure which is updated annually to reflect the basic cost of living in the UK and is voluntarily paid by more than 5,000 businesses who believe their staff deserve a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
According to the Living Wage Foundation, independent research on employers who have introduced the Living Wage has shown increases in employee productivity, greater staff retention and reduced sickness absence, and improved levels of morale, motivation and commitment.
Living Wage employers on Arran include the Glenisle Hotel, Arran Active, Arran CVS, VisitArran and Auchrannie.