Becoming a Living Wage Place

Tackling low pay is an important lever for reducing inequalities and building fairer, more inclusive economies, especially as we face a cost-of-living crisis.

Over the past 20 years, the Living Wage movement has put £1.6bn back into the pockets of low paid workers, lifted nearly 300,000 worker onto the Real Living Wage, and accredited almost 10,000 Living Wage Employers. But there is more to do to address the major challenges of work poverty, wage stagnation and income inequality.

The Living Wage Foundation, Bristol City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority joined us to talk about how they’re making the Real Living Wage a Reality.

Becoming a Living Wage Place

There are three steps to becoming a recognised Living Wage Place:

1. Create an action group of Living Wage accredited employers. At a minimum, an action group should include: the relevant local authority, one other large ‘anchor’ institution, a major private sector employer, a third sector champion, a small or medium sized enterprise (SME), an employers’ network or union, and a civil society representative.
2. Research the local low pay landscape. Tailoring an action plan to a specific locality means reviewing which sectors have a concentration of low paid roles; these generally include retail, social care, hospitality, manufacturing, and distribution. This also involves looking at where the pockets of in work poverty are and considering which demographics and communities are most affected by low pay in a locality. The Living Wage Foundation can offer statistics on how many employees are already paid the Real Living Wage by looking at which business and organisations are already accredited within that place.
3. Develop an ambitious Living Wage Action Plan over three years. This action plan includes targets to increase number of Living Wage employers, workers and number of worked to be uplifted in addition to actions that engage local anchors, big business, SMEs, low pay sectors, communications plan.