Distiller’s success at Scottish Living Wage awards ceremony
J&A Mitchell & Co Ltd, the owner of Campbeltown’s Springbank Distillery, has received a prestigious award from the Living Wage Foundation. The company, which also operates Mitchell’s Glengyle Distillery and the independent bottler William Cadenhead Ltd, picked up the prize in the Voice of Year category at the recent awards ceremony in Edinburgh. Judges said that the company was chosen ahead of fellow nominees ScotRail and the Moray Food Bank because of the work it did to promote the real living wage. It works both internally, by paying the real living wage to its staff, and externally by talking to other businesses about the living wage and promoting its benefits during distillery tours, whisky tastings and visits to other customers around the world. J&A Mitchell director Neil Clapperton has been widely quoted on the subject of the real living wage, saying: ‘It isn’t just about our image, it is about our conscience. ‘The company remains very much committed to paying everyone a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.’ The real living wage is independently calculated each year based on what employees and their families need to meet the cost of living. Paying the real living wage is a voluntary exercise; about 1,300 businesses in Scotland have been accredited as living wage employers. It was announced last week that the real living wage is now £9 per hour. The UK government currently sets a national living wage, previously known as the national minimum wage (the least any business is legally allowed to pay its staff), which is £5.90 per hour for those aged 18-20, rising to £7.83 for those aged 21 and above. In 2016, more than 20 per cent, or one in every five people in Scotland, earned less than the real living wage. Other award-winners included Standard Life Aberdeen, South Lanarkshire Council and Auchrannie Hotel and Spa on Arran. For more information on the real living wage, go to www.scottishlivingwage.org