Celebrating Living Wage Week 2025!

It’s Living Wage Week, the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement. This year’s theme is ‘the difference it makes’ which highlights how the real Living Wage, along with Living Hours and a Living Pension, not only improves employment, but also people’s lives.

The real Living Wage is calculated according to the actual cost of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers who want to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. The current real Living Wage is £14.80 per hour in London and £13.45 per hour across the rest of the UK.

In July 2024, we announced our commitment to the real Living Wage when we became officially accredited as a Living Wage Employer by the Living Wage Foundation.

Our commitment to the real Living Wage is more than a policy decision, it reflects who we are as a values-led organisation. Those values are at the heart of everything we do, from supporting local communities through our grant programmes to supporting one another as a team. Becoming an accredited Living Wage Employer in 2024 was a way to recognise and celebrate the incredible dedication of our staff, whose commitment powers our work every single day.

By committing to the real Living Wage, we also hope to lead by example and encourage other organisations who share our vision for fairer, more thriving communities across Wiltshire and Swindon to consider joining the movement. A commitment to the real living wage strengthens organisations, boosts wellbeing, and helps to build stronger, more resilient communities.

There are currently 1,227 accredited Living Wage Employers in the South West, such as RWK Goodman and Nationwide. 262 of those employers operate in the third sector, including Swindon-based organisations SMASH Youth Project and Way UK.

Speaking about our commitment to the real living wage, our joint Chief Executive Vicky Hickey said: “It’s wonderful to be celebrating Living Wage Week as an accredited Living Wage Employer! One of our commitments is to be a values-based organisation, so it’s important to us that our team feel valued and appreciated, and we felt like one of the ways in which we can do that is to commit to becoming a real Living Wage Employer.

“Paying the real Living Wage has a genuine and lasting impact for both employers and on the lives of people working in our communities, and I’d encourage all organisations in Wiltshire and Swindon, who are able to, to consider making that commitment. For those who are already paying the real living wage, becoming accredited is an important way to lead by example and inspire others to join the movement.”

Andy Malcolm, CEO of SMASH, added: “We are really proud to be a member of the Living Wage Foundation, we have been for a few years now. Fair pay for fair work is such an important principle for us, enabling our staff to not be as worried as they might be about bills at the end of the month, and it’s fantastic for staff wellbeing.

“We’re so ambitious for more charities to sign up, and we’d love Wiltshire and Swindon to be the place with the most accredited voluntary sector organisations. I’d encourage all those, who can, to join us in being part of a really important movement, that improves staff wellbeing, supports staff retention, and is just the good and right thing to do.”

Way UK’s CEO Sam Lloyd said: “We are proud to be real living wage employers, no matter whether it’s just a few hours a week, a paid internship, or an entry level role, we believe that if we really value young people, we need to pay them fairly. It’s the right thing to do, it’s the fair thing to do, and it speaks into the potential that we believe young people have.

“I’d really encourage organisations in considering and act, and become a real living wage employer, and help be the change that we want to see in our society.”