Growing Fair Work and the Real Living Wage in Edinburgh

Edinburgh has a successful and growing economy, however poverty levels still remain high with around 80,000 residents struggling to make ends meet. We know that in-work poverty has a significant part to play in this, and 9% of all jobs in Edinburgh still pay less than the Real Living Wage. On top of this, workers in the city experience challenges related to low job security and highly variable earnings.

We want to make sure that everyone in Edinburgh can access fair work. To do this, we are supporting the development of a Fair Work Charter for Edinburgh. The charter will provide a shared definition of fair work, recognise existing good practice, and support employers to take practical action to embed fair work into their organisation.

Work has been taking place since 2024, led by The City of Edinburgh Council, to collaboratively develop the charter with employers and workers. This phase of work ended in October this year, and the next steps are for the Edinburgh Fair Work Charter to be launched and trialled with local employers.

Our members will be part of the first group of employers to test out the approach. We look forward to learning from this process and supporting other organisations to sign up to the Edinburgh Fair Work Charter so that we can grow the fair work movement in Edinburgh together.