Events will highlight the ongoing work to tackle deprivation

City leaders will host a series of events from today for Challenge Poverty Week that highlight ongoing work to tackle deprivation in Dundee.

Later today, Tayside Garage Doors Ltd will be announced as the latest business in the city to become an accredited Living Wage employer.

The company’s new status ensures all staff and regular contracted workers earn the voluntary rate of pay set annually by the Living Wage Foundation, currently set at £9 an hour.

Dundee City Council fairness spokeswoman Lynne Short said the accreditation is the next step in Dundee fulfilling its ambition to become the first Living Wage city in the UK.

She said: “Lots of businesses in the city already pay the real Living Wage and I want to encourage them to seek accreditation and move Dundee a step closer to achieving our goal of becoming the first Living Wage City.

“We have lots of announcements over the week to highlight how as a city we are challenging poverty.

“Poverty restricts people’s ability to live their lives, but by ensuring that they are paid a fair wage can help reduce poverty in the city.”

Simone Nisbet, director of Tayside Garage Doors Ltd, said: “I think there are many businesses out there that pay the Living Wage or more but don’t know that they can be accredited or know how to do this.

“I feel that if more employers were accredited then this would encourage other businesses in Dundee to investigate whether they can afford to take the leap themselves. It may even encourage the bigger employers to do so too.”