The Richmond Fellowship Scotland has accredited as a Living Wage employer. The Richmond Fellowship Scotland is Scotland’s largest third sector social care provider and delivers registered services across 25 local authorities.
The Richmond Fellowship specialises in providing personalised support to people with learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, mental ill health, and other complex support needs; helping them to live independently and achieve the things that matter to them.
Their Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at the Richmond Fellowship Scotland receive a minimum hourly wage of £10.90 per hour. This Living Wage rate was announced on Thursday 22nd September 2022 in response to the cost of living crisis. This rate is significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s, which currently stands at £9.50 per hour.
In Scotland, more than 9% of all jobs pay less than the real Living Wage – around 221,000 jobs. Despite this, the Richmond Fellowship Scotland 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 59,000 people in Scotland and put over £370 million extra into the pockets of low paid Scottish workers.
Austen Smyth, Chief Executive Officer of the Richmond Fellowship Scotland;
“We are pleased to evidence our commitment to fair work and paying the Living Wage. We recognise the cost of living crisis and responded by increasing our hourly rate for Support Practitioners to £10.90 in October.
We have a long history of meeting and / or exceeding the real Living Wage. We are fortunate in Scotland to have a government committed to fair work. However, there is more to do and this requires government, funders and employers to work together to recognise the value of social care in a civilised Scottish society.”
Richmond Fellowship Scotland Support Practitioners in North Ayrshire commented;
“It feels like we are getting recognition for our continuous hard work and commitment”
“It’s a good motivator to give you an incentive to do the best job we can”.
Minister for Employment and Fair Work Richard Lochhead said:
“Fair work is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s approach to employment. Paying the real Living Wage helps tackle and address inequalities and maximises the opportunities to fairly reward workers and develop a healthy, diverse and inclusive workforce.
“I am pleased to hear The Richmond Fellowship Scotland has announced its Living Wage accreditation during Living Wage Week, and it’s great to hear that it has become the largest Living Wage accredited Social Care organisation in Scotland. The Richmond Fellowship Scotland joins over 2,900 accredited Living Wage Employers in Scotland demonstrating a real commitment to their workers by paying the real Living Wage.”
Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance said:
“Paying the Living Wage has always been about doing the right thing. With prices rising higher than ever, it’s never been more important that employers commit to at least the real Living Wage to help release the grip of poverty in Scotland.
I commend The Richmond Fellowship Scotland for gaining Living Wage accreditation. They are the largest third sector social care provider in Scotland to do so and this decision shows real leadership within the sector. They join more than 100 other social care providers and more than 2900 employers in Scotland who have committed to ensuring that their workers receive an income that covers the cost of living.”
Christine McCaig, Living Wage Scotland Manager said: “We’re delighted that the Richmond Fellowship Scotland has become an accredited Living Wage employer. They join a growing movement of over 2900 employers in Scotland who together want to ensure workers have what they need to thrive.
Our Living Wage employer network includes lots of smaller employers as well as larger and iconic brands like SSE, abrdn, Barrs, Mackie’s of Scotland, & D.C. Thomson. We hope to see many more employers following their example.”