The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that North East residential care provider Eothen Homes has been accredited as a Living Wage Employer.
Eothen’s Living Wage commitment will see every worker receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.75 or more, regardless of whether they are direct employees or third-party contracted staff.
This rate is significantly higher than the statutory minimum for over 25s of £7.83 per hour introduced in April 2018.
The real Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently, updated annually and is calculated according to the real costs of living.
Eothen Homes is only one of a handful of care providers in the North East to have implemented this salary measure.
Christine Hardy, Operations Manager at Eothen Homes, said: “We want the care sector to be one that people choose to work in and therefore the decision was taken to lead the way by introducing the Living Wage.
“Eothen is a Christian organisation and our values are based around treating people fairly, as well as recognising and rewarding best practice. This mirrors the aims of the Living Wage Foundation and we hope it will help us to attract and retain employees with a similar attitude and values and encourage other care providers to follow suit.”
Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage which enjoys cross-party political support on a voluntary basis.
Susan Armstrong at Eothen Homes, said: “I am delighted, I have never had such a payrise in all my working life. It has made such a difference to my wage.”
Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We welcome Eothen Homes to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer.
“Responsible businesses across the UK are voluntarily signing up to pay the real Living Wage now. The real Living Wage rate is annually calculated to reflect the real costs of living.
These businesses recognise that the Living Wage accreditation is the mark of a responsible employer and organisations like Eothen join us because they too believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”