Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre has today accredited as a Living Wage employer. The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.90 per hour. This Living Wage rate was announced on Monday 15th November 2021 as part of Living Wage Week. This rate is significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s, which currently stands at £9.50 per hour.
In 2019, Dundee became the first place in the UK to achieve recognition for their ambitious plan to become a Living Wage City, a place-based approach to driving uptake of the real Living Wage by local businesses. This ambition is strengthened by today’s announcement.
Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre joins over 100 accredited Living Wage employers in Dundee City who are working to ensure the local community and economy enjoys the benefits of the real Living Wage.
In Scotland, more than 14% of all jobs pay less than the real Living Wage – around 330,000 jobs. Despite this, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate calculated according to the costs of living. Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis, recognising the value of their workers and ensuring that a hard day’s work receives a fair day’s pay.
Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 55,000 people in Scotland and put over £310 million extra into the pockets of low paid Scottish workers.
Liam Sinclair, Executive Director & Joint CEO of Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Limited said: “We are absolutely delighted to be part of the fast-growing community of businesses in Dundee and Scotland paying the living wage and above. Grassroots change at the local level of this kind can inspire wider change, and it’s exciting that efforts like this within our organisation play a role in that.”
Gill Simpson, Marketing and Communications Director, Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc and member of Dundee Action Group said: “It’s great to welcome Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre as an accredited Living Wage employer in Dundee. The Dundee Action Group is focused on raising awareness and enabling as many businesses as possible to become accredited. It’s important, now more than ever, to ensure employees are paid a rate to support the rising cost of living. I hope Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre joining us in this movement can encourage others to join too.”
Christine McCaig, Living Wage Projects Coordinator said: “We are delighted to welcome Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre to our network of over 2700 Scottish employers who together want to go further than the government minimum. Our growing network in Dundee includes a range of employers from Dundee Industrial Heritage and Dundee Contemporary Arts to D.C. Thomson.
“Employers like Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre are helping to set the standard for employers in Scotland by making sure that workers have what they need to get by and we hope to see many more employers following their example.”