Celebrating new Living Wage accreditations

To support the continued importance of fair work in Edinburgh, we have:

• Learned from local employers about their fair work practices.
• Responded to UK Government consultations on the Make Work Pay Plan.
• Presented at events to raise awareness of fair work.

We believe that supporting workers in the city to access fair work is a crucial part of the city’s efforts to tackle poverty. That’s because around 61% of those experiencing poverty in the city are in a household where at least one adult is working.

Pay is a key element of fair work. It’s important that workers are paid a fair wage that enables them to meet the rising costs of living. That’s why as part of our work we encourage employers across the city to accredit as real Living Wage employers. This guarantees that workers will be paid a wage that is based on the real costs of living.

The real Living Wage movement is still growing in Edinburgh, despite challenging times for local businesses and charities. Every month, new employers are signing up to become real Living Wage accredited. This month, we’re excited to announce that Citizens Advice Edinburgh has joined the real Living Wage movement. Benjamin Napier, Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Advice Edinburgh, reflected:

“Citizens Advice Edinburgh is delighted to have been accredited as a Real Living Wage Employer.  As an advice agency, we are acutely aware of the financial pressures many working people live under and the challenges of meeting rising daily living costs.  The third sector often have to deliver services without any inflationary increase from our funders, so we are delighted to be in a position where we have achieved this accreditation and will continue to encourage funders, including the Scottish Government, to ensure that the funding being provided to the third sector is sufficient to ensure everyone working in this vital sector can receive at least the real living wage.”

If you’d like to find out more about fair work and the real Living Wage, you can get in touch with the Edinburgh Fair Work Action Group by emailing fair.work@edinburgh.gov.uk