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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.