Living Wage

Cynnal Cymru’s 2026 Senedd Election Living Wage Policies

The Living Wage has been one of the most successful civic campaigns seen in the UK.

In less than 15 years, over 16,000 employers across the UK have accredited as a Living Wage Employer – with around 12% of the workforce now working for one. Hundreds of thousands of people have received a pay rise directly at the point of accreditation.

In Wales, we now have over 600 Living Wage Employers, covering nearly 12% of the workforce.

This growth has continued despite cost of living challenges in recent years, with the real Living Wage rising by 41% since 2020.

Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales – started working with the Living Wage Foundation in 2016, as the accreditation partner for Wales. We work on a ‘franchise’ model, in essence hosting Living Wage Wales in-house. We are a sustainability charity, who work for the benefit of future generations. The UN’s 8th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is Decent Work and Economic Growth, with a Living Wage a core component of this, and other, SDGs. Working on the Living Wage is therefore a perfect fit for our charitable objectives.

In the nine years we have been working on the Living Wage, our work with the Living Wage Foundation has seen 21,000 people getting a pay rise directly at the point of their employer’s accreditation. However, we know the actual impact is even bigger than this. Academics at Cardiff Business School have identified a ‘shadow Living Wage’, with thousands of workers having their pay pegged to the Living Wage without accreditation. This is due to the strength of the Living Wage brand, and the work of other organisations such as trade unions calling for the Living Wage as a minimum in collective bargaining agreements.

We have made great progress on the Living Wage in Wales. Our employer network is growing, our network of steering groups to organise on the Living Wage across Wales are growing, and more and more organisations are joining the campaign.

We were delighted earlier this year to see the Future Generations Commissioner ask all public bodies in Wales to make a plan to accredit as a Living Wage Employer by 2027.

However, there is still more to do.

The Welsh Government’s annual Wellbeing of Wales report found this year that only 67% of people in Wales earn more than the Living Wage. This is an increase from 64% the year before, but we will only ensure we are a nation that provides a Living Wage for everyone if we double-down on our public policy efforts to support a Living Wage.

We believe that the following proposals are credible, evidence-based asks for all parties to include in their manifestos for the 2026 Senedd elections, and would represent a strong step towards tackling the cost of living crisis and in-work poverty in Wales.

Cynnal Cymru’s 2026 Senedd Election Living Wage Policies

1. Living Wage First: publicly funded organisations should pay a Living Wage

The Welsh Government should require any public sector grant recipient to demonstrate that it is paying at least the real Living Wage before it can access a grant. This policy exists in Scotland, where their ‘Fair Work First’ policy requires a number of Fair Work conditions to be met before a public sector grant can be given, including evidence of payment of the real Living Wage.

We support a version of this being introduced in Wales, with three non-negotiables: payment of a real Living Wage, provision of access to trade unions, and provision of contracts with guaranteed working hours (with the Living Hours accreditation providing a potential basis for this).

The Welsh Government should not be providing financial support to organisations who are not paying a Living Wage – the 2026 Senedd election should mark the end of this practice. We call on all parties to specifically adopt this policy in their manifestos.

2. Strengthen and protect the Living Wage for Social Care Workers

The policy of a real Living Wage for social care workers has made a big difference in the lives of many social care workers. However, there is clear evidence that cracks have started to emerge in the policy.

The current system sees Welsh Government pass the funding for the real Living Wage down to local authorities, who are then expected to pass it on to care providers, who are then expected to finally pass it on to the social care workers themselves.

We have seen the different entities in this chain claim that the system is not working as it should be. The Welsh Government’s own research shows that only 84% of care workers are being paid a Living Wage. Although this is considerably higher than the estimated 44% that were being paid a Living Wage before the last Senedd election, there is still work to do to ensure that all care workers are being paid a minimum of a real Living Wage. Care work is skilled, demanding work and people in the sector deserve to have a Living Wage as a pay floor.

We are calling on all parties to sign up to guaranteeing that a Welsh Government led by their party will ensure all social care workers receive the real Living Wage, using the new Fair Pay Agreement mechanism to ensure that the real Living Wage is the minimum wage rate for social care in Wales. This should be backed up by adequate funding from the next Welsh Government to realise this policy, with the funding ring-fenced if necessary.

3. All public bodies in Wales should be accredited Living Wage Employers

Paying the real Living Wage to all directly employed staff is a good start, but there is more for employers to do. Some employers may pay their directly employed staff a real Living Wage, but also outsource contracts such as cleaning and security services for their premises to companies who do not pay a real Living Wage. This means that there is essentially a loophole where employers can avoid paying the Living Wage to some of their lowest paid staff.

The Living Wage Employer accreditation requires payment of the Living Wage to all of these staff members, giving confidence that all who should be paid a Living Wage, are being paid a Living Wage.

Mark Drakeford and Eluned Morgan have both written in their capacity as First Minister to all public bodies in Wales asking them to become accredited Living Wage Employers, and the Future Generations Commissioner has recommended that all public bodies become accredited Living Wage Employers by 2027.

However, it is still only a small minority of public bodies who have done this. We are asking all political parties to state in their manifestos that all public bodies (as defined by the Well-being of Future Generations Act) will be mandated to become accredited Living Wage Employers. This can be done by mechanisms such as remit letters, or instructions by the relevant Cabinet Secretary.

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The potential for the Living Wage in Wales

At Cynnal Cymru, we are getting ourselves ready for Living Wage Week – always one of the busiest times in our Fair Economy team’s calendar.

We’re the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner for Wales – in essence, that means we host Living Wage Wales in-house. Our Fair Economy team supports employers across Wales to become accredited Living Wage Employers. We also work with the Welsh Government on their Foundational Economy agenda – and there is an interlink between these two programmes. One of the Welsh Government’s objectives on the Foundational Economy is to help facilitate rising wages in the ‘foundational’ sectors, including through promoting the real Living Wage.

The Living Wage campaign is one of the most successful campaigns of the past quarter of a century. The campaign for a Living Wage has cross party political support and is a movement of independent businesses, organisations and citizens who believe a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.

The movement began at a meeting in East London, when the grassroots organisation Citizens UK – the home of community organising – brought together churches, mosques, schools and other local institutions to talk about the issues affecting their communities. One issue came up again and again – low pay.

The Living Wage campaign was launched, and also called on employers to pay their outsourced cleaners, caterers and security guards working a wage that met their everyday needs.

Supporters held rallies and charity music gigs. A big march down the Mile End road called for all staff working in East London hospitals to be paid a Living Wage. These hospitals were among the first employers to join our movement – followed by local schools and big City firms.

In 2011, the UK Living Wage rate was launched. And in 2016, Cynnal Cymru became the accreditation partner in Wales. We have worked with a range of employers and individuals who have been willing to go above and beyond to support the Living Wage in Wales. Cardiff Council, Cardiff Business School, Welsh Government, Citizens UK, and too many other partners to name on our steering groups have donated time and effort to supporting the movement.

So where are we on the Living Wage in Wales, and how much more potential is there in this programme?

For starters – we have nearly 600 accredited Living Wage Employers in Wales now, who collectively employ 160,000 employees. This is rising all the time. We’ve supported leading lights from the private, public, and third sectors to accredit – for example, Admiral, Principality Building Society, and Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Bridgend local authorities.

We often talk about a ‘delivery gap’ in devolution – how do well-meaning frameworks and strategies become on-the-ground delivery? We’re very happy to say that we are playing a role in bridging this gap.

To date, our running total is 21,000 ‘uplifts’ to the real Living Wage directly at the point of accreditation from still-accredited employers – that is, as a direct result of this programme employers have lifted over 21,000 workers off the statutory minimums and on to a wage floor that is based on independent research into the real cost of living. These 21,000 workers receive a pay rise each year, also based on the cost of living.

In times when we talk about a cost of living crisis, this is really important. We know that the costs of essentials such as food and housing have increased significantly over recent years. Living Wage Employers are doing their part to ensure wages keep pace with the cost of living, even in challenging times.

Living Wage Employers don’t just take care of their directly employed workers, either. Our accreditations require in-scope contractors to be paid the real Living Wage. Security and cleaning staff are often outsourced – but our accreditations don’t allow them to be left behind. The movement started with these workers asking for fair pay, and every Living Wage Employer ensures these workers receive the Living Wage, too. This requirement also allows accreditations at major employers like local authorities to have an impact down their supply chains, across the local economy.

The Living Wage movement’s impact is even further than this. Academics at Cardiff Business School have uncovered a phenomenon called the ‘Shadow Living Wage’. This is where major employers peg their minimum pay rates to the real Living Wage, but don’t accredit. They won’t show up in our impact statistics, but it’s not a coincidence the minimum pay rates at supermarkets often very closely mirror the real Living Wage. This is often as a result of trade unions demanding – and winning – the Living Wage as a minimum in negotiations with these employers.

Behind every one of these rises to the Living Wage is a human being and a human story. One typical story that always stays with me is the impact on working parents. One social care worker in Wales told us that he previously had to work multiple jobs – leaving the house before his children had gotten up in the morning, and coming back after they had gone to bed. The introduction of the Living Wage at one of his employers had allowed him to only work one job, and to spend time with his children in the evenings. Another worker in Powys told us that the introduction of the Living Wage had allowed her to save and buy a house, something she would not have otherwise been able to do – transforming her future. There are now more than 21,000 of these stories across Wales.

As proud as we are of this work, there is still so much more to do. The Wellbeing of Wales report published this month found that 33% of workers in Wales are still paid less than a Living Wage.

Welsh Government support is essential to what we do, and has been instrumental in delivering these pay rises for low paid workers. There is still more we can do in the public policy space, though.

The Scottish Government’s ‘Fair Work First’ policy requires everyone in receipt of public sector grants to pay the Living Wage. We should look at emulating this in Wales. After all, there is only so much money to go around – why should we use it supporting low pay, instead of encouraging pay rises for workers?
Similarly, we should examine how they have encouraged the Living Wage through procurement contracts in Scotland. There are now around 4,000 Living Wage Employers in Scotland, and they operate in a very similar devolved context to Wales. We should be looking at the trail they have blazed and be seeking to do the same.

Supporting the Living Wage is something that all of us can do. We have steering groups across Wales – including a Cardiff group and a South West Wales group. We’re looking to support people to establish groups in other areas, too. We have major organisations such as local authorities, universities and the Future Generations Commissioner’s Office represented on these groups. However, we also have bakeries, markets, and other small employers on board – the only real qualification is for you to be enthusiastic about the campaign and be willing to give up your time.

So, as we look towards Living Wage Week – the Living Wage movement in Wales has achieved a huge amount, and Wales is a better place for it. But with a third of people in Wales earning less than a Living Wage, there is so much more to do. Get in touch and be a part of it.

The potential for the Living Wage in Wales Read More »

10 November | Living Wage Wales Annual Celebration Event

Join us at this event to hear from Living Wage Employers, workers, and campaigners on the difference Living Wage, Living Hours, and Living Pensions makes – and to hear about new developments across the Living Wage and Fair Work space in Wales.

We will hear from speakers across the Living Wage movement – including workers, activists, large and small Living Wage Employers, council leaders, Welsh Government, and others. Our full line-up of speakers will be announced shortly, and the event will be chaired by David Nash, Professor of Employment Relations at Cardiff Business School, and Natalie Hodgkinson, Boss and Brew Academy.

We will be hearing about the difference the Living Wage makes, and how you can support pay rises for the lowest paid based on the cost of living.

Venue: Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Cardiff Bay
Date: Monday 10th November 2025
Time: 10am – 12pm

Register to attend

www.livingwage.wales

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Should we chase wellbeing over growth? 

The theme of this month’s Cynnal Cymru newsletter is ‘growth’ in its broadest sense. It’s a word that is often associated with positivity. I’m writing this on the first working day of British Summer Time, although it is still very much spring. Growth is in the air – with the daffodils having sprouted and blossom season in full swing. Growth in this context is very much welcome, even to hay fever sufferers like myself. But there are some debates where the concept of growth is more contentious. 

Our role as Cynnal Cymru’s Fair Economy team is to make a contribution towards a fairer economy for Wales. Our two core work strands are partnering with the Living Wage Foundation in Wales – hosting Living Wage Wales in-house – and working with the Welsh Government to support their ambitions for Wales’ foundational economy. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the ‘mundane’ areas of the economy that are nonetheless incredibly important in underpinning everyday life – think care and health services, food, utilities, and similar. They haven’t always got the attention from economic policy makers that advanced manufacturing or cutting-edge technology have, but they make up a huge section of the economy – with 51% of Welsh employees working in the foundational economy. Their working lives and the contributions they make deserve attention too. 

It’s predominantly through these living wage and foundational economy workstreams that we engage with the concept of growth – the narrower idea of economic growth. Far from springtime flowers to some this concept evokes thoughts of industrialisation and environmental harm. The public policy debate in Wales – particularly where it intersects with the third sector – has seen a debate around whether economic growth is a desirable goal, with efforts to move towards a ‘wellbeing’ approach instead. 

Whereas in years past many would look to settle the inherent tensions between development and sustainability via an ambition for ‘sustainable growth’, some in the Welsh policy space are now looking to other concepts, such as ‘degrowth’, or asking for a ‘wellbeing economy’ to replace efforts to increase GDP. 

To me, a wellbeing economy is clearly a highly desirable aim. Focusing on a broader set of metrics than simply growth makes a huge amount of sense. We know that a rising tide doesn’t always lift all boats. The gap between the rich and the rest is growing. There is increasing evidence that, to some extent, pay has partly decoupled from productivity. The labour share of national income in the UK has fallen in recent decades, as a greater share goes to those who own, rather than those who work. 

Source: Our World in Data

But does that mean we should eschew the quest for economic growth in favour of a wellbeing economy? The chart above – which maps life satisfaction and GDP per capita – suggests this may be a false dichotomy. There is a clear correlation between reported life satisfaction (which I would suggest is fairly synonymous with wellbeing) and GDP per capita. It follows that a growth in GDP per capita – economic growth – is very likely to correspond to a growth in wellbeing. 

It’s right that we look to a broad set of measures when trying to create a fairer economy for Wales. It is fairly unsurprising that the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland find themselves at the top right of the graph – with some of the highest GDP per capita and life satisfaction in the world. 

The Nordic model of strong trade union rights and mass union membership to protect worker incomes is a successful one. It rebalances economies away from the ultra-rich having a unilateral say over how much they pay their workers and how much they keep in their own pockets. Wales would be sensible to emulate it as much as it can. But we shouldn’t forget that this model does include having amongst the highest GDP per capita in the world. 

And whilst there is some evidence of productivity growth (which tracks pretty consistently with GDP growth) and pay decoupling, there is no evidence of a total decoupling. Strong growth in GDP still means rising wages – for people of all income brackets. When we talk about how we can tackle poverty in Wales, economic growth is a tried-and-tested method. 

Economic growth is good for the rights of workers, too. Harvard University’s Dani Rodrik found in his paper ‘An Industrial Policy for Good Jobs’ that the ‘sine qua non’ (for fellow non-Latin speakers, that’s ‘without which, not’ – an indispensable ingredient) of good jobs is a high enough level of labour productivity. That is, increasing productivity (doing more with less), a key component of economic growth, results in jobs that ‘provide a middle-class living standard, adequate benefits, reasonable levels of personal autonomy, economic security, and career ladders’. 

The trade-offs between measures to support economic development and considerations such as equity and environmental protection are complex and multi-faceted. But Wales is one of the poorest areas of Western Europe on many measures. This results in human misery – including child poverty and people trapped in work where they are paid and respected too little. We should be hesitant about well-meaning calls to eschew economic growth. 

The ambition of many to become a wellbeing economy is a welcome one. But the increasingly common refrain of ‘wellbeing or growth’ is looking at the issue the wrong way around. We should instead consider how we can continue to decouple growth from carbon emissions and utilise economic growth in Wales to reduce poverty and increase wellbeing. 

Should we chase wellbeing over growth?  Read More »

Is culture the key to thriving over surviving in sustainability?

Bread for all, and roses too.

From American suffragist Helen Todd’s original speech in 1911, labour movements worldwide have used the concept of bread and roses to fight for the circumstances where populations are not just surviving but thriving, too. In the Well-being of Future Generations Act, culture is explicitly written as one of the necessary elements of a thriving Wales. The Act intends for ‘A Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language. A society that promotes and protects culture, heritage and the Welsh language, and which encourages people to participate in the arts, and sports and recreation.”

The ongoing pressure on the cost of living, the health service and heritage and arts organisations in Wales illustrates the everyday challenges decision makers are having to make on budgets and priorities. When austerity hits, one of the first things to be cut is cultural services, and we’re seeing that now across Wales and the UK. The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act challenges us all to not neglect our cultural responsibilities and connections in favour of other priorities.

While we’re not a cultural institution at Cynnal Cymru, we care deeply about wellbeing in all its manifestations. Our Fair Economy team accredit the Living Wage and Living Hours Wales, helping organisations to create working conditions that don’t just meet the bare minimum requirements for living, but help their staff to thrive too. We’ve seen huge transformations where individuals no longer have to work multiple jobs and can spend more time with their families, get enough rest, and engage with the culture and community around them.

Culture plays a key part in unlocking sustainability action and is often forgotten in technical debates around carbon reduction. As Gus Speth, US climate scientist put it:

“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”

How are our team thriving while surviving?

Sometimes we think about culture as something serious, expensive, and reserved for a few kinds of activities. But just like sustainability is made up of the little changes that add up in all our work, cultural well-being can come from small moments in our everyday lives. Outside of their work at Cynnal Cymru, our staff have rich lives engaging with cultural moments both big and small.

Abi, our Membership Officer, spends one day a week as an apprentice at an antique jeweller, learning how to make and repair fine jewellery. Recently she’s been challenged by learning how to use CAD design as a tool to design and model jewellery, exploring a whole new creative community. Our Head of Business Development, Clare, recently joined a group at the NoFitState circus building to watch part of the Festival Mondial de Cirque de Demain, livestreamed from Paris. When we can take the time for them, these moments of intercultural engagement can inspire us to think outside our daily spheres and even try new things.

Fiona, our Finance Officer, stops crunching numbers to write fiction when she’s not at work. She’s currently working on two novels, one that’s nearly finished and one that’s a fresh project – an old school, tongue-in-cheek heist set in the modern day. Our Marketing and Communications Officer, Beli, also writes fiction, having recently written a short story for the Beyond/Tu Hwnt bilingual anthology of Welsh deaf and disabled writers.

As a crafty team, our staff are often sharing ideas and tools. Recently, our Living Wage Programme Lead, Grace, gave Fiona some embroidery frames and she’s started a new project from them, planning to make two pieces of iridescent insects. There are so many ways we can appreciate and explore ecology and sustainability in ways that are creative, whether that’s researching beetles for a creative project or photographing the beautiful view on one of our coastal walks in Wales, like our Living Wage and Human Resources Support Officer, Alys, who recently walked some the Pembrokeshire Coast.

Blue Lagoon Quarry photographed by Alys Reid Bacon

Integrating cultural and sustainability work

Too often, we can become siloed in our approach to sustainability. The Well-being for Future Generations Goals challenges us to think about everything that a society needs to thrive. No single person or organisation can do it all, but when we work together, we can make lasting and impactful changes. As a membership organisation, we are inspired by the organisations from outside the sustainability sector who are committing themselves to sustainability work, such as our members Arts Council Wales, Ffilm Cymru, and Media Cymru from the arts sector. We’re all aware of the need to change our behaviour to look after our climate and natural environment, and at Cynnal Cymru we’re committed to empowering organisations from every sector to turn that knowledge into actionable steps.

So how can culture help sustainability?

At the recent South East Wales Climate Coalition event, our former Board member Andy Middleton reminded the audience that “change happens by those who hold the best parties.” Joy, creativity, and culture must necessarily go hand in hand with our passion for a better society.

One of our members Coleg y Cymoedd have embraced an Every Day Every Decision approach to sustainability to encourage their staff and students to drive the culture of change based on what is important for them. The technical aspects are still happening, but just backstage. These kinds of innovations that think about what drives behaviour change are so important and integral to our ways of working at Cynnal Cymru.

Another change in culture is moving towards long-term thinking. This is one of the ways of working encouraged by the Future Generations Commissioner. We have benefited from attending the Futures Hub training as they begin to build a community of practice around the change of culture.

To quote educator and author Peter Drucker: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’

If we’re too busy looking at the numbers, the facts, the long reports of data, we can neglect to imagine a future that is full of joy, passion, and creativity. Wales is a land of song, literature and culture, and we must savour and treasure these things in little and large ways to create a sustainable future that is authentically Welsh, authentically ours.

Is culture the key to thriving over surviving in sustainability? Read More »

What can a just and fair net zero transition look like? 

What can a just and fair net zero transition look like?

What can a just and fair net zero transition look like? It’s a topic that has been on my mind a lot since joining Cynnal Cymru in February as the Senior Programme and Policy Lead, leading our Fair Work and Living Wage team. Unsurprisingly for a charity called ‘Sustain Wales’, we’ve always been a sustainability charity first and foremost. But for a few years now, we’ve worked on developing our aims on ‘just transition’, and that has included embedding the fair work agenda outlined in the Fair Work Wales report in 2019 into our aims. That has meant working with trade unions, writing policy papers on spreading fair work principles throughout existing government programmes, and sitting on the Welsh Government’s group aimed at tackling modern slavery.  

We’re also the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner for Wales, meaning we essentially host Living Wage Wales in house. Living Wage Wales has delivered over 22,000 pay rises for low-paid workers across Wales through this work, including 5,575 in 2023 alone – making a direct contribution to tackling the cost of living crisis. This fits with another key Cynnal Cymru principle – focus on action, not just words. 

This is what myself and my colleagues on the Fair Work and Living Wage team work on – but what does it have to do with sustainability? I’d say it has a huge contribution to make. We should be honest about the fact that there are vested interests who are opposed to carbon reduction and nature-positive actions, particularly at the scale we know these need to happen at. It barely needs saying, but profit motives very often run against sustainability aims. A tree can be a project stewarded by communities over hundreds of years that provides space for nature and clean air for people, or it can be a blocker to a new car park. At time of writing, it was only yesterday that we heard the UAE government plans to use COP28 to make oil deals.  

There are often efforts to protect private profit motives via leveraging the jobs business creates, to bind the inexorable destruction of the natural world to the interests of working people. In this framing, environmentalists and their causes are painted as cloistered from the demands of the real world that most people have to deal with. There’s no hiding from the fact that this can be an emotive and powerful dividing line, carving the people whose world is being worsened away from efforts to protect it. We saw in the recent Uxbridge by-election how action on emissions, in this case Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ), can be utilised for political gain. 

Focus on action – not just words.

For me, then, a just and fair transition isn’t just a slogan. It is a vital tool in our efforts towards carbon reduction and nature restoration. If our sustainability efforts are questioned, we can very happily point to the work we do to ensure that people have access to fair working conditions and boosting the pay of those in the lowest-paid jobs so that they can afford to live and not just exist. Work on a fair and just transition can bind working people to the cause of sustainability – not an inconvenience for people, but an opportunity. At a legislative level in Wales, the recent Social Partnership and Public Procurement Act has amended the Well-being of Future Generations Act to include ‘fair work’, and our well-being indicators include payment of the real Living Wage and trade union membership. This binds the cause of working people even closer to the task of saving our planet. 

If we get it right, the green transition gives us the opportunity to repair many of the broken elements of our economy. It can mean high-quality, unionised, green jobs spread across communities that have seen unfair working practices and low pay proliferate. Green skills training programmes that prepare our workforce for the future can contribute to bringing an end to the gender and racial inequities we see today. And of course, it can mean the avoidance of the road to disaster our climate and natural world are currently on.

So, as we look at Wales Climate Week and COP28, let’s keep the things that are important to people – their livelihoods, incomes, and their everyday lives – at the forefront of our minds. That’s what a just and fair transition is all about. 

Harry Thompson is Cynnal Cymru’s Senior Programmes and Policy Lead. He manages the Fair Work and Living Wage team, which work towards Cynnal Cymru’s strategic goal of a fair and just society. He comes from an economic policy background, having led projects on topics such as empowering trade unions, the Welsh Government’s fiscal framework, and community empowerment.

He is also our Equality and Diversity lead.

What can a just and fair net zero transition look like?  Read More »

Job opportunity – Living Wage programme officer

If you would like to join a committed and energetic team of sustainability specialists and you are interested in learning more then please get in touch. 

Please note that we are looking for candidate with at least experienced beginner level of Welsh.

Applications close on Sunday 20 March with interviews on Wednesday 30 March.

About Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales

Cynnal Cymru- Sustain Wales is a non-profit organisation providing advice, training and support services to help organisations turn sustainability aims into action.

We are the official partner of the Carbon Literacy Project in Wales and the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner in Wales. Our teams of sustainability specialists work to support organisations across three core programme areas: (i) low carbon economy, (ii) natural environment and (iii) fair and just society.

The Living Wage

The real Living Wage is an independently calculated hourly rate based on the cost of living and announced each November during Living Wage Week, the annual celebration of a growing network of almost 9,000 Living Wage Employers in the UK.

The Living Wage Foundation and its partners in Wales and Scotland, celebrate employers that voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage through an accreditation scheme that recognises a long-term commitment to fair pay and has secured pay rises for over 300,000 low paid workers.

The number of accredited Living Wage organisations across Wales is growing and Welsh Government recognise the role of the real Living Wage as part of ensuring fair work for everyone in Wales. In 2021, we launched the Living Wage for Wales website.

How to apply

Please send your application to jobs@cynnalcymru.com by midnight on Sunday 20 March, including your:

  • Cover email
  • Application form
  • Equal opportunities form

Please note we do not accept CVs. Strictly no agencies.

The online interviews will take place during the week commencing Monday 21 March 2022.

Download:

Job Description

Application Form

Equal Opportunities Form

Job opportunity – Living Wage programme officer Read More »

Thousands of Welsh Workers set for payrise as First Minister Mark Drakeford Announces New £9.90 Real Living Wage

Almost 13,000 people working for 359 real Living Wage Employers are set for a vital pay boost as the new Living Wage rate rises to £9.90 in Wales (40p increase) supporting workers and families through the pandemic. The Living Wage rates are the only rates independently calculated based on what people need to live on.

The new Real Living Wage rate and the ‘National Living Wage’ – know the difference

Unlike the UK Government minimum wage (‘National Living Wage’ for over 23s – £8.91 rising to £9.50 in April 2022) the real Living Wage is the only wage rate independently calculated based on rising living costs – including fuel, energy, rent and food. A full-time worker earning the new, real Living Wage would earn £1,930 a year more than a worker earning the current government minimum (NLW). For a worker today that’s the equivalent of 7 months of food bills and more than 5 months’ rent based on average household spending in the UK. Even on next April’s higher NLW rate of £9.50, a full-time worker on the real Living Wage would earn £780 more. The increase in the Living Wage rate this year has largely been driven by rising fuel and rent costs.

This year the campaign for a real Living Wage celebrates its twentieth year across the UK and its tenth anniversary in Wales, with new research from the Cardiff Business School showing Living Wage workers have benefitted from more than £1.6bn in extra wages across the UK during this period, with one in 13 workers now working for an accredited Living Wage Employer. In Wales, over £57.2m in extra wages has gone to low-paid workers thanks to the Living Wage campaign over the last ten years.

The Living Wage movement continues to grow in Wales

The number of accredited Living Wage Employers in Wales has risen by 44% in the last year to 359, including the Wales Millennium Centre, Dyfed-Powys Police and Coaltown Coffee. Much of this progress is as a result of the work of Cynnal Cymru, the Living Wage Foundation’s Accreditation Partner in Wales, which supports employers through the process of accreditation.

Wales’ accredited Living Wage employers join a network of almost 9,000 employers across the UK, including half of the FTSE 100 companies, household names like Aviva, Everton FC, Burberry, and Lush, as well as thousands of small businesses, who are choosing to pay the real Living Wage to ensure all staff earn a wage that meets the real cost of living.

Citizens Cymru Wales is now focusing its campaigning efforts on Health Board, local authorities and care providers in Wales, asking them to accredit as Living Wage employers.

The First Minister will announce the news at a virtual Living Wage Week Wales Launch on Monday 15th November 08:30-09:30, hosted by Citizens Cymru Wales, Cynnal Cymru and the Living Wage for Wales Leadership Team.

“Today’s announcement of a rise in the Real Living Wage to £9.90 an hour stands to benefit thousands of workers in Wales. The challenge for us is to encourage more employers across Wales to commit to paying their workers at least the Living Wage. As part of the steps we can take to make work fairer, the Welsh Government is using the influence it has to improve levels of Living Wage adoption and accreditation. This includes leading by example as a Living Wage accredited employer, beginning the implementation of the real living wage in social care early in this Senedd term and encouraging employers in Wales to explore the benefits of the Living Wage for them as employers and for those that work for them.”

Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales

“We are making remarkable progress towards our goal of making Wales a Living Wage economy, but one in six workers in Wales still earn a poverty wage, and that is a big problem. We need to see more of Wales’ employers choosing to accredit with the Living Wage Foundation, especially in the public sector. This will not only lift their own staff out of in-work poverty, but also those thousands of cleaners, security guards and careworkers working for them in outsourced roles.”

Rachel Ashworth, Dean of Cardiff Business School and Chair of the Living Wage for Wales Leadership Team

“Careworkers like me are delighted that the Welsh Government is going to phase in the Real Living Wage from April next year. This will make a huge difference to the people who have been on the frontline of the pandemic. We’ve heard the clapping and we’ve heard people saying how vital our work is, and now we have heard that our wages will be going up.”

Edel Anabwani, Careworker from Cardiff and Leader with Citizens Cymru Wales

“Despite the challenges of the pandemic we continue to see significant growth in Living Wage accreditations in Wales – with 110 new employers signed up in the last year and thousands of employees benefiting from a poverty-busting payrise. If you are an employer in Wales and you want to join the Living Wage movement we can help you get accredited..”

Sarah Hopkins, Director, Cynnal Cymru

“Becoming a Living Wage Employer is something we’ve wanted to do for a while now, so we’re delighted we’ve finally been able to make that a reality. It’s a hugely important step for us to take as an organisation, to be able to recognise in a small but concrete way the tremendous value our front of house team bring to the table. They’re often the first people our visitors will have come into contact with, so they’re the face of Techniquest in many ways and play a vital role in helping bring science to life for all those who visit. Hopefully this uplift will help towards their living costs going forward and will continue to keep them ahead of the curve compared with others working in similar positions across the UK.”

Lesley Kirkpatrick, Chief Executive of Techniquest, a recently accredited Living Wage employer

“With living costs rising so rapidly, today’s new Living Wage rates will provide hundreds of thousands of workers and their families with greater security and stability. For the past 20 years the Living Wage movement has shaped the debate on low pay, showing what is possible when responsible employers step up and provide a wage that delivers dignity. Despite this, there are still millions trapped in working poverty, struggling to keep their heads above water – and these are people working in jobs that kept society going during the pandemic like social care workers and cleaners. We know that the Living Wage is good for businesses as well as workers, and as we rebuild our economy post pandemic, the real Living Wage must be at its heart.”

Katherine Chapman, Living Wage Foundation Director

Thousands of Welsh Workers set for payrise as First Minister Mark Drakeford Announces New £9.90 Real Living Wage Read More »

Wales’ First Living Wage Building – Launch Event

The accreditation as a Living Wage Building means all tenants will be obliged to pay at least the real Living Wage to employees and onsite contractors.

Join Cynnal Cymru, Councillor Huw Thomas (Leader of Cardiff Council) , Professor Rachel Ashworth (Dean of Cardiff Business School and Living Wage Commissioner) and Professor Chris Taylor (Academic Director, SPARK) to celebrate this important milestone for Wales and how this accreditation will support progress towards making Cardiff a Living Wage City.

There will also be an opportunity to find out more about Living Wage Places and their potential role in making Wales a Fair Work nation.

The duration of the webinar will be an hour and the invitation is open to anyone with an interest in attending, so if you’d like to receive a registration link please contact bethan@cynnalcymru.com 

Wales’ First Living Wage Building – Launch Event Read More »

Doing the little things in Cardiff on St. David’s Day

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!

Doing the little things in Cardiff on St. David’s Day Read More »

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