Today (Monday 11 November) Manchester City Council can announce its successful accreditation as a Living Wage Employer by the national Living Wage Foundation (LWF).

This official acknowledgement of Manchester City Council’s Living Wage Employer status strengthens the council’s position as a modern employer of choice. The announcement comes during the National Living Wage Week 2019.

The Real Living Wage is independently calculated as the minimum amount a person needs to earn to be able to live and reflects the cost of living today – currently set at £9 per hour.
It  is recalculated every year to reflect the rising costs of living and the Council has committed to meeting the new Real Living Wage as quickly as possible following its announcement this week.

Already, all Council staff currently earn a minimum of £9.51 per hour and the majority of Manchester City Council’s contracts are with suppliers who have committed to paying the Real Living Wage. For those contractors who have not yet formally committed to this, the Council is working to include a future commitment to paying the Real Living Wage as part of any new tender process.

The Council’s procurement arrangements also puts significant weight towards a Social Value commitment by a contractor, demonstrating how they will help improve Manchester and give something back.
This accreditation complements some of the other charters the Council has signed up to during the last few years to further underpin the council’s core values and work to develop a truly progressive and equitable city.

These include:

• The Ethical Employment agreement which requires all voluntary sector organisations the council supports to follow ethical employment standards;
• The Dying to Work Charter which protects employees with a terminal illness  whereby they could not be dismissed against their will as a result of their condition;
• The Ethical Procurement Policy which sets out Manchester’s commitment to a high standard of ethical trade practices across commissioning and procurement;
• And an Ethical Care Charter which sets out a series of protection for care workers.

Cllr Carl Ollerhead, Manchester City Council’s executive member for finance, said:
“Manchester is proud to add to its Ethical Employer status with this official accreditation as a Living Wage Employer. As one of the biggest employers in the city it is important that we lead by example to ensure our staff are given a decent living wage.

“We will continue to use our influence across the city to urge other employers to do the same to help tackle and alleviate poverty, particularly for people who are working hard, so that ultimately we can try to create a more equal city.

“We will continue to use our influence to urge as many other organisations as possible to follow suit, and to show the benefits that this brings to people’s quality of life.”