The Living Wage for Wales is a collaborative effort to promote the benefits of Living Wage accreditation for employers, workers and the economy in Wales.
Cynnal Cymru is the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner for Wales, supporting employers from the public, private and voluntary sectors with the process of accreditation. Cynnal Cymru uses its employer networks and understanding of how organisations operate to help them overcome barriers to accreditation. Cynnal Cymru also plays an important role in promotion of the Living Wage to employers.
Citizens Cymru Wales initiated the Living Wage campaign in Wales, and leads the Living Wage for Wales campaign strategy. As the home of community organising in Wales, its diverse member organisations across Wales set goals, identify campaign targets and train community leaders and workers to take action as part of Living Wage campaigns.
The Living Wage Foundation has dedicated staff time to support accreditation and initiatives such as Living Wage Places, and to co-ordinate marketing and communications around Living Wage Week.
The foundational economy community of practice started in July 2020 as part of the Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy Challenge Fund. Its aim was to share learning and innovation, build relationships and encourage collaboration.
The Challenge Fund provided support to projects looking to try out new ways to address challenges – some emerging, some age-old – faced by foundational economy businesses or those relying on their services.
These included:
the recruitment, retention and skills of the workforce
the delivery structures and design of services
the recruitment, retention and skills of the workforce
the delivery structures and design of services
The aim was to explore a range of solutions that could potentially generate viable, adaptable models that could be scaled up and spread to strengthen local economies and community wealth-building.
Staring in 2019 with an initial 52 projects, it was always expected that some experiments would not succeed and conditions were made even more challenging by the impact of the pandemic.
A community of practice was also however put in place to help capture some of the rich learning and insights generated by all the projects taking part. The examples in the case studies below give a flavour of the projects supported by the Fund – their successes, challenges and above all learning, about how best the foundational economy in their area or sector can be supported. The Fund closed in March 2021 but, at the request of members, the community of practice has continued. Its role continues to be to share learning, encourage and expand dialogue and facilitate collaboration.
This St David’s Day, we are asking organisations across Cardiff to think about the little things they can do to ensure a fair day’s pay for their workers, whether it’s understanding how to become an accredited Living Wage employer, or reaching out to other organisations to encourage them to consider the real Living Wage, or helping us share the positive messages about the difference that paying the real Living Wage can make.
Cardiff Council is currently the only accredited real Living Wage local authority in Wales. The Council and partners are championing Cardiff as a Living Wage city which is having positive impact on the city and its employees. As of 1 February 2021, 45% of Wales’ total accredited employers were based in Cardiff and Cardiff employers had contributed to 69% of total uplifts in pay. Recent research by Cardiff University has shown that real Living Wage accreditation by 124 Cardiff employers has resulted in 7,735 workers receiving a pay rise which has added over £32m to the local economy in just over 8 years.
To hear more about the benefits of the real Living Wage from employers and employees in Cardiff please watch this video.
Leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, said:
“The seemingly small things really can make a big difference, and I know the significant impact paying the real Living Wage has had in the lives of our own staff. We’re pleased to be supporting organisations across the city to enable them to do the same for their own employees, and this St David’s Day I would encourage any Cardiff business interested in paying the real Living Wage to get in touch to find out more.”
Cardiff Council understand the wider benefits that the real Living Wage can bring to individuals and employers, as well as to the City; and they have made a commitment to reimbursing accreditation fees for SME employers based in Cardiff through their accreditation support scheme. For more information about the real Living Wage in Cardiff please visit the website.
Cardiff Council also encourages local employers to provide a Payroll Savings and Loans Scheme to their staff, enabling their employees to save directly from their salaries and if needed, access affordable credit from an ethical provider. More information can be found on this on the Cardiff & Vale Credit Union’s website.
Cynnal Cymru is the accrediting body for the real Living Wage in Wales and are here to help you through the accreditation process. Get in touch, join the movement, do the little things.
We wish you all a happy St David’s Day. Diolch yn fawr!
How do you develop a sustainability career? For so many starting or changing career paths, making that first step into a sustainability role can be difficult. Join Cynnal Cymru in a facilitated discussion on how to upskill your workforce or develop your own green skills.
Are you starting your sustainability journey? Looking to understand how to apply sustainability strategy to your organisation?Join Camille Lovgreen in our open Integrated Sustainability Taster Workshop, where you can begin to understand what goes into sustainable strategy and look at next steps for your organisation.
Cynnal Cymru members receive one free place on the Integrated Sustainability Taster Workshop. Spaces are subject to availability – contact Abi to register your free place.
Things you should know
The Living Wage Wales 2024 Gift Guide is now live! You can buy from, or visit all of these employers whilst being reassured that the workers involved are being paid fairly for their work
Our thriving community of mutually supportive members provides an opportunity to share learning, challenge thinking and mobilise action, be this through co-designed events, hosting networking sessions or simply sowing seeds for future collaborations or thought-leadership.
If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contactmembership@cynnalcymru.com.
In 2019, a group of representatives from registered housing associations across Wales sat down around a table with one aim: to find a way to work together to help alleviate the climate emergency.
They agreed that understanding their carbon impact, both as individuals and organisations, and being able to make informed decisions on reducing carbon emissions, had the potential to be transformative for the social housing sector and communities. Thus Carbon Literacy Cartrefi Cymru (CLCC) was born – a consortium that would provide a platform for knowledge sharing across the sector, collaborative problem solving, and peer to peer teaching to deliver Carbon Literacy training to staff across Wales.
One phrase in the meeting notes from the earliest days of the CLCC succinctly summarised what the approach would be:
“This consortium is about reaching you where you’re at and helping from there.”
Fast forward five years, and the CLCC is now coming to a close, having achieved exactly what it set out to do. The consortium’s flagship project, a fully accredited Carbon Literacy training course tailored to the social housing sector, has been delivered to 598 people across Wales, thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of the CLCC trainers who have passed on their knowledge to their peers and colleagues. The course has received two substantial updates and has been fully translated into Welsh. Its final iteration will continue to be used by members to certify their staff as Carbon Literate. Many of those housing associations are now certified Carbon Literate Organisations, and continue to champion carbon reduction in the workplace. As was inevitable with a large group of disparate organisations, not everyone’s time as members of the CLCC looks the same. Each had their own priorities, their own challenges to overcome. But the consortium’s ethos of looking at where each member was and guiding them to where they wanted to be played a huge role in the success of the project.
Bron Afon Community Housing was a part of the CLCC from the start, and remained as members throughout the lifetime of the consortium. Nadine Davies, Community Decarbonisation Officer at Bron Afon, said, “The CLCC has enabled us as an organisation to come together and learn about the importance of climate change and carbon emissions. It provided us with valuable skills, networks, and guidance for us to deliver the course to our colleagues successfully.”
Reflecting on her term as Chair of the CLCC since May 2023, Nadine added,
“The CLCC created a space for us to discuss and share in confidence what was going well and what our struggles were when delivering Carbon Literacy. I found the regular meetings and coming together with others delivering the course useful and it was good to listen and take on board points raised. I very much enjoyed my time as Chair of the CLCC and without it I don’t think we would have had as much success with the delivery of Carbon Literacy as we have. I look forward to continuing to deliver Carbon Literacy to the rest of our staff and the wider community to help tackle climate change.”
Fast forward another five years from now, and we hope that we will still be seeing the positive impact the CLCC has had. Consortium members are talking about rolling out Carbon Literacy to their tenants – and with more than 100,000 houses owned across the consortium, that’s a lot of people. We’ve created a Climate Essentials course to help trainers pass on key knowledge in a shorter, more accessible format, and encourage interest in the full training. For some member organisations, certified Carbon Literacy training is now mandatory for all new staff, and will continue to be delivered long into the future. For those housing associations who want customised training or advice, individually or collaboratively, Cynnal Cymru’s team can work with them to ensure that the success of the CLCC is just the first step on their carbon reduction journey.
In November 2020, when the world was coping with an unprecedented global pandemic, 29 members of the CLCC still found the time to meet, to talk about what they wanted the consortium’s future to be. Many of the initial targets had already been met, with 65 people already certified as Carbon Literate, and 83 people about to take the Carbon Literacy Train the Trainer course, at the time making it the biggest ever Carbon Literacy Train the Trainer cohort. But the world had changed since the CLCC’s inception, with training now having to be delivered remotely, collaborative working much harder than it had been in the past, and organisations rightly prioritising core business continuity and the wellbeing of their staff over less immediate concerns. It would have been very easy for Covid-19 to spell the end of the CLCC, but luckily its members were committed to keeping it very much alive. It’s thanks to them, the dedicated support of their colleagues, and the enormous enthusiasm of hundreds of people across Wales, that we can look back on the past five years and honestly say that the CLCC has made a difference – and its success will continue to inspire more and better changes to how we live.
How do you develop a sustainability career? For so many starting or changing career paths, making that first step into a sustainability role can be difficult. Join Cynnal Cymru in a facilitated discussion on how to upskill your workforce or develop your own green skills.
In this current climate and nature crisis, green careers are becoming more desirable and necessary. Looking towards a sustainable future, more and more people are rethinking the places they work for and the kinds of roles they play. With net zero goals and the growing visible local impacts of extreme weather, we urgently need more people taking action in their workplace as well as communities. Given that we spend up to a third of our days in the office, too, it’s crucial that you and your staff feel fulfilled and passionate about your work. Learn how to be a part of meaningful change towards a just transition in your job role or staff development.
In this half-day event, Finley Povey from Transport for Wales will discuss apprenticeships and how organisations can create their own internal schemes, joined by Cynnal Cymru’s Abi Hoare who will share their experience of the Future Generations Leadership Academy, and additional speakers to be announced who will share their experiences entering into sustainability roles. In a Q+A with the speakers and networking opportunities throughout, this event will help you understand how to upskill a green workforce, what opportunities are available for individuals, and how to inspire your staff’s next steps.
Who is it for?
This event is open to all individuals and organisations over the age of 18.
Cynnal Cymru Members can get two free places to this event. A limited number of free student places are available for Cardiff University students. Please email abi@cynnalcymru.com to secure your free place.
Facilitators
Simon Slater, Director at Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales
Early on in his career, Simon worked with the late Rhodri Morgan and Welsh Government as they explored what it meant to have the duty to promote sustainable development in your constitution. His Wales experience renewed his interest to work for the benefit of communities and the environment. He has subsequently worked across the world as an environmental advisor with royalty, charities, government, councils, and business. This has included borrowing ideas from Wales, such as creating a Board member for Future Generations for a Regional Development Agency 10 years before the Welsh Act.
More recently he has been running sustainability or community regeneration charities such as Sustainability West Midlands, the Springfield Project, and ecobirmingham. He is looking forward to coming back to Wales to continue to be part of the country’s sustainability story. “Wales changed me, now I want to be part of a charity that is helping Wales to change”.
Clare Sain-ley Berry, Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales
Clare has a background in delivering partnership projects for the natural environment and sustainable resource use and uses this to help shape our policy and development work. She enjoys facilitating collaboration across sectors and devising practical programmes to deliver strategic aims.
11:00 Q+A Session facilitated by Clare Sain-ley Berry
11:30 Networking
12:30 Close
Our thriving community of mutually supportive members provides an opportunity to share learning, challenge thinking and mobilise action, be this through co-designed events, hosting networking sessions or simply sowing seeds for future collaborations or thought-leadership.
If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contactmembership@cynnalcymru.com.
Have you ever asked for advice from someone who wasn’t necessarily an ‘expert’ on the situation or topic? What made you do that? Was it that they cared about you and understood you? Was it their profession, a common background, or shared beliefs that led you to trust their judgement? Perhaps you judged their trustworthiness based on how you’d seen them act in other situations?
What does that mean for climate communication? Inspired by a recent pilot training, our Sustainability Strategist Dr Karolina Rucinska considers the role of trust in climate communications.
—
When I was in secondary school, staring at a whiteboard with mathematical equations would fill me with dread. I could not make sense of these abstract concepts at all. But when my friend sat down with me and used plenty of real examples, it would all suddenly click in my mind. In other words, by showing me how the equations mattered in my own life, I was able to truly understand them. Was that school friend more educated or credible than the maths teacher who had been teaching for decades? Certainly not, but he found a way to relay the information in the right way for me. It took me years to realise that I just needed the right messenger for the information to sink in. A recent training by Climate Outreach cemented this idea for me.
Trust is a big deal
Trust is a combination of three factors: the person who seeks it, the person who gives it, and the context. Thus, trust can be interpersonal and institutional, and it is fundamental to all aspects of our lives. According to the 2023 edition of the Ipsos Veracity Index, the top five trusted professions are nurses, pilots, librarians, doctors and engineers, but the least trusted are politicians, government ministers, advertising executives, journalists, and estate agents. This suggests that we can trust unbiased and highly trained people with strong codes of ethics and who can help in life-threatening situations.
But we are all guilty of asking for a second opinion. Even after a long call with an expert, like a doctor, we call our nearest and dearest before making big decisions. Don’t we?
In times when information is distorted, opinions divided, and situations are developing too fast to grasp, we reach out to people who mirror our beliefs. And given that trust in politicians is at an all-time low,, how can citizens trust what is being told to us?
Trust at scale
The good news, according to the 2023 Climate Barometer Tracker survey,is that the UK public do trusts naturalists, conservationists, charities, and NGOs. The bad news, and because climate change impacts all aspects of our lives, is that we listen to other voices too. So, if you are an expert on climate change, pandemics, flooding, vaccinations, and people prefer to call their mums rather than trust you, don’t take it personally. Instead, find voices that resonate with the audiences you want to reach.
The Climate Outreach research report on the issue of climate communication found that trusted people are seen as some combination of:
human
sincere
down to earth
kind
reliable
honest
Who do you think of when you imagine these qualities? Likely those people closest to you, rather than experts putting out reports on climate change.
Earning trust in climate messages, at scale, is desperately needed. With so many conflicting messages and a deep skepticism about the media from many of the general public, there is a lot at stake.
Take low-carbon heating, for example. You can have all the facts and figures, but at the end of the day you’ll likely make the decision because a neighbour or friend made the switch and convinces you to do the same.
Earning trust at scale, therefore, goes beyond finding the right “already trusted” messenger or influencer such as scientists. Earning trust at scale needs everyday messengers who can relate, convey real passion, have a deep, lived experience and are credible. For example, a chef who runs a small restaurant with seasonal foods speaking to other chefs who are looking to diversify their menus and cut food waste. A parent who walks their kids to school speaking to parents who want to stay active and reduce petrol costs but feel alone with the challenge. But earning that long-term trust requires a few more ingredients, plus an unbroken chain of promises, and results.
Now, it has been applied by Climate Outreach in their quest to communicate effectively. They advocate three qualities that communicators need to demonstrate for their audiences to trust them and be open to influence:
Passion: This person really cares about this issue.
Credibility: The person knows what they’re talking about. They’re not just making it up on the spot.
Empathy: The person understands that people have different perspectives. They’re not lecturing or talking down to others.
Crafting a trusted message therefore is about being authentic and knowing yourself as well as the audience. Yes, it is also about showing hard facts, but always within the context and tone of your audience.
Trust starts with your first audience: yourself
’One thing I have learnt from the past few years working in the field of sustainability is that to connect with others, we better know ourselves first. In climate change, where food preferences and chosen mode of transport can lead to arguments, we better know why we do what we do.
To start you crafting a message, begin by asking yourself a few questions:
How reliable am I?
Do I trust myself?
Am I someone that others can trust?
What’s motivating me to communicate?
Do I have a genuine interest in understanding where my audience is coming from?
What non-climate interest makes me feel passionate?
To find out how to use these questions, and to fully appreciate the ideas shared in this piece, and to put them all together, I recommend reading the report Beyond Trusted Messengerand to follow Tara Bryer for further updates about the training.
If you or your organisation would like to take deeper action against climate change – including communicating with staff, customers or wider stakeholders – please get in touch!
Do you work for an organisation and want to know how to start tackling your effect on the climate?
Join us on 14th November 2024 and be part of the world’s largest climate education & action training event – Carbon Literacy Action Day, coinciding with Wales Climate Week and COP29.
What: a day of accredited training: “Carbon Literacy at Work”
Where: Sbarc|Spark, Cardiff
When: 14th November 2024
Commitment: From 09:00am to 4:15pm – (Please bring your own lunch. Refreshments will be provided.) Join us after the training for an optional Carbon Literacy Action Day Webinar with other learners around the world (5pm-6pm)
For who: organisations of all sizes and sectors who want to develop an awareness of the carbon cost of their activities and how to start on the journey to reduce their impact
Why: with the climate changing, all organisations need to identify their risks and know how to prioritise their climate action in line with national policies and legal requirements.
Led by: Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales
Ticket prices:
Cynnal Cymru Members
Conditions
FREE Member (One place per member organisation) Each Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales Memberorganisation is entitled to send one representative free of charge. Please e-mail us on events@cynnalcymru.com before booking to get a discount code for your free space.
One place per organisation
FREE
Additional Member per person (Special discount)
Cynnal Cymru Member
£90 plus VAT
Non-members
Non-member (Low wage/Concession) per person
£70 plus VAT
Non-member (standard price) per person
£140 plus VAT
sbarc|spark Residents
FREE sbarc|spark Residents Each sbarc|spark Building Resident organisation is entitled to send one representative free of charge. Please e-mail us on events@cynnalcymru.com before booking to get a discount code for your free space.
One place per organisation
FREE
Additional sbarc|spark Residents
sbarc|spark resident / organisation
£90 plus VAT
*Ticket includes official certification cost with the Carbon Literacy Project
Our thriving community of mutually supportive members provides an opportunity to share learning, challenge thinking and mobilise action, be this through co-designed events, hosting networking sessions or simply sowing seeds for future collaborations or thought-leadership.
If you would like to find out about our member benefits, including access to discounted events and training, please contactmembership@cynnalcymru.com.
Have you unlocked the power of storytelling in your work yet? Join Cynnal Cymru in a facilitated discussion on storytelling techniques that can engage your stakeholders, shed light on your important work, or refine your business goals.
We’ve all seen a powerful piece of storytelling that makes us stand up and take action. Maybe it’s a video that wakes us up to crucial climate issues, an interview with a community coming together for collective good, or an animation that spells out technical information in a way that makes sense to us. Storytelling is everywhere, and harnessing the power of storytelling is key to engaging our audiences in our work towards a sustainable future.
In this half-day event, Cynnal Cymru’s advice team will tell you about their recent imagining of a Wales in 2051, joined by speakers who are experts in storytelling. In a Q&A with the speakers and networking opportunities throughout, this exclusive event for Cynnal Cymru members will help you understand where you can develop storytelling opportunities, find new tools to craft engaging stories, and use storytelling to increase engagement in your work.
Who is it for?
This free event is open to all individuals and organisations over the age of 18. Priority attendance is available to Cynnal Cymru Members.
Speakers
Animation to Action: Unlocking your storytelling power with Anthony Green, founder of Motion Manor
Anthony Green’s storytelling background led him to found Motion Manor in 2021. Motion Manor is a B-Corp certified animation and motion design studio focused on creating a positive impact. They help organisations who are working to make the world a better place with awe-inspiring visual content. Through their work with the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), they have used visuals to inspire hope and show what a future proof society might look like across 7 different cities.
In his talk and Q&A, Ant will tell us about how animation and illustration can elevate socially conscious projects to inspire change in your audiences. Sustainability is at the core of his work, so he can answer your questions about the sustainability of animation and why animation works to engender passion and action towards the climate crisis.
Imagining and Enacting a Sustainable Future with David Clubb, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW)
Dr David Clubb is an expert in energy policy and digital communication. He is a Founding Partner at Afallen, whose projects are rooted in the Well-being of Future Generations approach, bringing value to all Wales’ citizens’ now and in the future. He was previously Head of Digital at RenewableUK and Director at RenewableUK Cymru.
The NICW is an independent advisory body that gives recommendations on the infrastructure Wales needs. They have worked in partnership with the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) to envision the implications for infrastructure in Wales in 2100. As the Chair of the NICW, David will talk to us about the power and importance of this project and how imagining a sustainable future is necessary to creating one. With expertise in pairing digital storytelling with practice structural change, David can answer your questions on how storytelling can uplift gritty technical information, speak to new audiences and help you with business development plans.
Creating a Vision We Can Achieve with Camille Løvgreen, Sustainability Advisor at Cynnal Cymru
Camille joined Cynnal Cymru’s advice team to support clients through a transition to sustainable business operations. This includes carbon accounting, creating action plans, and embedding sustainable principles into operations. Inspired by CAST’s visions of a low-carbon futures report, Camille and Karolina developed a series of stories designed to show readers that everyone can play a huge role in achieving a sustainable present and future. In her talk and Q&A, Camille will tell us about how utilising a creative approach can build hope and momentum without comprising on accessibility or reality.
Facilitators
Simon Slater, Director at Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales
Early on in his career, Simon worked with the late Rhodri Morgan and Welsh Government as they explored what it meant to have the duty to promote sustainable development in your constitution. His Wales experience renewed his interest to work for the benefit of communities and the environment. He has subsequently worked across the world as an environmental advisor with royalty, charities, government, councils, and business. This has included borrowing ideas from Wales, such as creating a Board member for Future Generations for a Regional Development Agency 10 years before the Welsh Act.
More recently he has been running sustainability or community regeneration charities such as Sustainability West Midlands, the Springfield Project, and ecobirmingham. He is looking forward to coming back to Wales to continue to be part of the country’s sustainability story. “Wales changed me, now I want to be part of a charity that is helping Wales to change”.
Clare Sain-ley Berry, Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales
Clare has a background in delivering partnership projects for the natural environment and sustainable resource use and uses this to help shape our policy and development work. She enjoys facilitating collaboration across sectors and devising practical programmes to deliver strategic aims.
11:00 Q+A Session facilitated by Clare Sain-ley Berry
11:30 Networking
12:30 Close
Our thriving community of mutually supportive members provides an opportunity to share learning, challenge thinking and mobilise action, be this through co-designed events, hosting networking sessions or simply sowing seeds for future collaborations or thought-leadership.
If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contactmembership@cynnalcymru.com.
Running a successful and responsible business is perhaps more challenging today than ever before. In a complex landscape of risks and opportunities, technological innovation is moving at an unprecedented pace, resource availability and social instability are immediate challenges, and companies must navigate capricious policy conditions while competing versions of reality have destroyed trust. Nonetheless, stakeholders want businesses to address the pressure our planet and its population are under.
Sustainable Development provides businesses with a clear unifying vision for a viable and prosperous economy of the future.
Ambitious sustainability targets have been set at every level from individual companies to international pacts. Approaching the midpoint of the UN ‘Decade of Action’, the time to deliver on these commitments to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and inequality is now. However, progress is not happening fast enough, and in some cases is reversing. Business professionals must be equipped and empowered with robust solutions to respond to the challenges spanning all three tenets of ESG.
Through panel discussions, fireside chats, hands-on practical workshops, and extensive networking opportunities, the UN Global Compact Network UK’s Annual Summit will bring together stakeholders from across sectors for practical, output-focused discussions, to give you the strategic insights needed to bridge the ambition to action gap and transform your business for people, planet, and prosperity.
All key takeaways from the day will be captured and made exclusively available to attendees, forming a strategic action plan to accelerate sustainability solutions.
Are you starting your sustainability journey? Looking to understand how to apply sustainability strategy to your organisation?Join Camille Lovgreen in our first open Integrated Sustainability Taster Workshop, where you can begin to understand what goes into sustainable strategy and look at next steps for your organisation.
Cynnal Cymru members receive one free place on the Integrated Sustainability Taster Workshop. Spaces are subject to availability – contact Abi to register your free place.
Things you should know
Cynnal Cymru launch new Premium Membership packages
We have launched three brand-new Premium Membership packages, centring around our Advice, Training, and Connections services. If you would like to find out more, please visit our website or contact membership@cynnalcymru.com to book in for a call.
Cardiff Refill Return Cup
A brand-new returnable coffee cup scheme will be launching in the Welsh capital next month. The Cardiff Refill Return Cupscheme – the first-of-its-kind in Wales – will enable Cardiffians to ‘borrow’ a reusable takeaway cup from a participating café and return it at a later date so that it can be washed and used again and again.
Pop down to your local People Planet Pint meetup to find out more about what’s going on with sustainability and how you can get involved.
12th September | Celebrating the Living Wage in Mid and West Wales | Halliwell Conference Centre, Camarthen
Join Living Wage Wales as they celebrate the progress of the Living Wage movement and to recognise the Living Wage Employers making a difference in the Mid and West Wales region. For further information please contact livingwage@cynnalcymru.com.
Join Bumblebee Conservation trust and Cardiff’s Ranger team to search and survey the bumblebees of Hendre lark part. This event is free to attend and suitable for adults of all abilities.
Join Policy Insight Wales as they showcase best practice organisations from across Wales and share insights to help you design and implement an effective ESG strategy.
Have you unlocked the power of storytelling in your work yet? Join Cynnal Cymru, Motion Manor, and NICW in a facilitated discussion on storytelling techniques that can engage your stakeholders, shed light on your important work, or refine your business goals.
Our thriving community of mutually supportive members provides an opportunity to share learning, challenge thinking and mobilise action, be this through co-designed events, hosting networking sessions or simply sowing seeds for future collaborations or thought-leadership.
If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contactmembership@cynnalcymru.com.
Every month in Cynnal Cymru’s excellent newsletter (subscribe here), we explore a different question or topic through the lens of our core organisational aims of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems.
Last month, we thought about how to handle complexity within times of change in our job roles or the wider sustainability conversation. This month, we’re thinking about what it means to craft and build a new future together. We’re a few weeks out from an election that saw the Conservatives leave office for the first time in 14 years, with Labour winning a majority of 172 seats. Labour’s campaign slogan was simple: Change.
The public policy landscape has started to shift already, with 40 pieces of legislation introduced by the new government (and an additional two carried over from the previous parliamentary session).
Unsurprisingly for an organisation called Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales, we have a core focus on sustainability. We also want to ensure that action on climate change leads to a better society, and doesn’t leave workers behind – that’s where our Fair Economy team comes in. For an organisation that has this focus on sustainability and a fair economy (such as fair working practices), there is plenty for us to sink our teeth into.
Sustainability
One of the new government’s flagship policies has been the creation of a new organisation called GB Energy – a new, publicly-owned green power company. The UK Government intends to invest over £8bn in this organisation over the next five years – a major spending commitment.
It’s still early days for GB Energy, and there’s more to learn about how it will operate as it comes into life. However, it seems that a core remit will be co-investing in emerging renewable energy technology and scaling up investment in more established technologies. Essentially, it will aim to unlock private sector investment in renewables by de-risking and clearing the way for this investment.
Chris Stark – former Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee – has also been appointed to lead a new ‘Mission Control’ that will aim to break down barriers and accelerate progress on clean energy projects.
UK Labour appears to lean on some of the work of economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato. Labour’s ‘five missions to rebuild Britain’, chime with Mazzucato’s 2021 book ‘Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism’. This book was inspired by the space race, which, in the US, took a ‘missions-based’ systems-engineering approach to coordination of the public and private sectors to put human beings on the moon.
Sound familiar? This appears to very much be the approach of the new UK Labour government with regards to its ‘National Missions’, ‘Mission Control’, and the public-private approach of GB Energy.
This plan is not without controversy. Many will question the need for private sector involvement, with the inevitable siphoning off of proceeds into private profit, particularly where the public purse is de-risking projects – although the government would counter that private expertise and buy-in is necessary.
There is a particular sensitivity in Wales, too. GB Energy has already announced a partnership with the Crown Estate in England and Wales. The Crown Estate owns a substantial amount of Britain’s land, including the majority of the seabed, and public money will be used to lease this land to develop windfarms.
There have been calls for the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales, a position long supported by the Welsh Government. However, the UK Government does not have this as a proposal in its legislative agenda.
Fair Work: Policy Highlight
There is news on the fair work front, too. The King’s Speech included a new Employment Rights Bill. The UK Government has said this Bill will enhance a long list of working rights:
Banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts
Ending ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’
Making parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal available from the first day of employment (whilst retaining the option of probationary periods)
Removing the lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay
Flexible working the default from day-one for all workers
Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (except in specific circumstances)
A new Fair Work Agency to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights
A new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector, with potential expansion to other sectors
Removal of some restrictions on trade union activity
Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions
Introducing a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces
This appears to be a strong set of proposals to strengthen workers’ rights in the UK. However, the detail will be crucial – for example, the ‘teeth’ that the new Fair Work Agency is given, the exemptions for employers around new rights such as protecting new mothers, and how broad the definition of ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts is.
The Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector will be particularly interesting, and is under-remarked on. ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ are essentially an industry-wide employment agreement, where government brings together trade unions and employers to agree minimum pay rates and conditions across the sector.
The UK model of collective bargaining currently focuses largely on the firm level. Research has found that this model poses a significant challenge to trade unions, which have to secure agreements workplace-by-workplace. It also found that no country which operates on this model has collective bargaining coverage of over 35%, with collective bargaining coverage only remaining high and stable in countries where multi-employer or sectoral agreements – such as these Fair Pay Agreements – are negotiated.
That the UK Government is now proposing to bring sectoral agreements into the social care sector, potentially as a ‘proof of concept’ for other low-paid sectors, is significant. If rolled out successfully and more extensively, this could be the start of a quiet revolution in the UK’s industrial relations settlement.
Given Cynnal Cymru’s longstanding work on the real Living Wage (we’re the Living Wage Foundation’s Accreditation Partner for Wales and host Living Wage Wales in-house), there’s a particularly interesting commitment to deliver a ‘genuine living wage’. The Low Pay Commission, which suggests the minimum wage rate (or National Living Wage as it’s now called) will now have to consider the cost of living when making its recommendation.
For our part, the real Living Wage is set directly according to the cost of living, based on a basket of household goods and services. That’s a different remit to the one of the new Low Pay Commission, so we’ll be keeping an eye on any differences in the two rates.
What does this mean for our future?
There is so much we could say around policy that relates to fair work and sustainability, and the impacts these changes could mean for our foundational economy too.
There is clearly a huge amount of change being undertaken that speaks to the things we care about at Cynnal Cymru, encompassed by our vision of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems. .
We know that legislation can’t deliver everything and it doesn’t work on its own. We also believe in the power of partners, citizens and action-focused advocacy to bring about the transformative change that we need.
Harry Thompson is Senior Programme and Policy Lead: Fair Work and Economy and manages the Fair Work and Living Wage team, which work towards Cynnal Cymru’s strategic goal of a fair and just society.
Counting down to the 2024 National Eisteddfod in Pontypridd next week, I am filled with a sense of excitement and nostalgia. This year’s festival is not just a celebration of Welsh culture; it’s like a homecoming, both for the Eisteddfod and for me personally.
The Eisteddfod has always been a special place in my heart. Growing up, it was more than just competition – it was a gateway to new experiences and learning opportunities. As a young attendee, I discovered hands-on science activities, engaged with charities, and explored new fields of interest from agriculture and Welsh wildlife conservation to animation and robotics. These experiences helped shape my interests and ultimately led me to where I am today, working for Cynnal Cymru.
It has been 68 years since the Eisteddfod was last held in Rhondda Cynon Taf, when the first modern Eisteddfod was held in Aberdare in 1956.
Pontypridd, one of the former coal and iron industrial centres of the three valleys, often does not get the recognition it deserves for its vibrant Welsh community and culture. By bringing one of Europe’s biggest festivals to this area, we are drawing attention to a community that really deserves it.
The aim of the Eisteddfod is not just to celebrate our past; it is also about shaping our future. Over 160,000 visitors were expected, it gives our organization an opportunity to engage with people from all over Wales.
Our presence at the Eisteddfod is about more than just showcasing what we do. It’s about making sustainability accessible to everyone, regardless of age, background or circumstances. The sustainability and environmental sectors are not only among the least racially diverse in the UK, but they are also dominated by individuals from middle-class backgrounds. We want to inspire the next generation of Welsh environmental champions, just as I was inspired years ago.
Wales has been at the forefront of sustainable policies and actions in the UK and beyond. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is a great example of Wales’ innovative approach to sustainability. This groundbreaking legislation requires public bodies to consider the long-term impact of their decisions, work better with people and communities, and adopt a more joined-up approach to tackling persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities, and climate change. Wales was also one of the first countries in the world to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and has set ambitious targets for renewable energy and waste reduction. Our aim is to celebrate these successes and encourage even more people to join Wales’ sustainability journey.
The Eisteddfod embodies the Welsh spirit – inclusive, progressive, and deeply connected to its roots. It celebrates our language and traditions and our links with cultures across the world. As a sustainability charity, we see our participation as an opportunity to weave environmental awareness into the fabric of Welsh culture. By attending the Eisteddfod, we’re not just taking part in a festival; we are investing in the future of Wales.
It is necessary to create opportunities for young people who would not necessarily be able to access the world of sustainability and environmental work otherwise. And looking after our planet is an integral part of looking after our Welsh culture and communities.
We invite you to join us on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th of August at the Voluntary Sector Hub. Come and discover how sustainability and the environment intertwine with Welsh culture, and help us build a greener, more inclusive future for Wales.
Alys Reid Bacon is the Living Wage and Human Resources Administration Officer. Alys is passionate about sustainability and is currently working on her PhD in Biological Sciences, titled, “The influence of genotype, environment & management factors on yield development, grain filling & grain quality in oats.”
