Taking Care has accredited as a Living Wage Employer
Our Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Taking Care receive a minimum hourly wage set by the Living Wage Foundation each year. The rates are significantly higher than the government minimum for over 25s, which currently stands at £8.72 per hour.
Taking Care is based in the South West of England, a region where over a fifth of all jobs (20%) pay less than the real Living Wage - around 456,000 jobs. Despite this, Taking Care has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work and over 50 members of staff have already benefited from the accreditation.
The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since 2011, the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 230,000 people and put over £1 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.
Steve Gates, Managing Director of Taking Care, said: “We want to ensure that all of our teams look after our customers in the best possible way, which is especially important given the personal alarm service that we provide to older and vulnerable customers."
"One of the best ways that we can achieve this is by looking after our staff in the best possible way too – and that includes ensuring everyone is paid fairly. So, for us the decision to become an accredited Living Wage employer gave us an opportunity to show our staff how important they are to us.”
Katherine Chapman, Director at Living Wage Foundation, said: “We’re delighted that Taking Care has joined the movement of over 6,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on."
“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs, Lush, and many more. These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Taking Care, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay."
