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.
