A national ceremony celebrating companies committed to the real living wage has been held in the North East - with backing from Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The Living Wage Foundation’s Living Wage Champion Awards were held at the Great North Museum: Hancock. Employers and individuals from around the 海角视频 attended the awards, with Newcastle Building Society among the winners after taking the Living Pension Champion Award.
Other winners on the night included the NHS, Southwark Council and CIS Security.
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In a message played at the ceremony, Ms Reeves said: “Our number one mission is to put more money into the pockets of working people and our increase to the National Living Wage is giving a £1,400 a year boost to some of the lowest paid workers. I’m pleased to see more employers in the North East signing up to fair pay as we progress on our promise to invest in Britain’s renewal to make people better off.”
Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour, who is cabinet member for the economy on the North East Combined Authority, said: “It’s a real honour to host the Real Living Wage Awards here in Newcastle - a city rooted in community, fairness, and pride in our people.”
The ‘real’ living wage is different to the Government’s National Living Wage and is currently set at £12.60 per hour as opposed to the official rate of £12.21. It aims to assess the hourly rate needed to support the basic cost of living.
More than 15,000 海角视频 companies have signed up to pay all of their staff that rate, including more than 350 in the North East. The Foundation says that if a quarter of low paid jobs in the region were increased to the real Living Wage level, £40m would be added to the North East economy.
Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: “We are delighted to congratulate all our Living Wage Champion Awards winners for their outstanding commitment to the real Living Wage and driving up employment standards. Thanks to their campaigning and advocacy, there are now over 16,000 accredited Living Wage Employers delivering vital cost of living pay rises to nearly half a million workers every year.
“Over 200 Living Hours Employers and more than 70 Living Pension Employers are raising the bar even further to ensure all their workers have security and dignity today and tomorrow. Together the Living Wage movement has put £3.85bn back into the pockets of low paid workers since the campaign began. I warmly congratulate all our winners on their well-deserved awards and thank them for their support for the Living Wage movement.”