Police commissioner signs up to living wage commitment

STAFF working in the office of  Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane are to receive at least the “Living Wage”.

The commitment will see everyone,  regardless of whether they are direct employees or third-party contracted staff; receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.75. This rate is significantly higher than the statutory minimum for over 25s of £7.50 per hour introduced by the Government in April.

The real Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually and is calculated according to the real costs of living.

Mr Keane said: “I’m a great believer that hard working people should earn a wage that they can afford to live on – that’s why I’m supporting the Voluntary Living Wage of £8.75 per hour as a minimum. I wish many more organisations would make the same commitment, as so many hard working families currently earn much less and consequently live in poverty.

“During my time as commissioner I’m keen to ensure Cheshire organisations benefit from the both the Force’s and my office’s influence, so today I’m not only celebrating the Voluntary Living Wage week, but I’m calling on local employers not to only pay the Government’s legal minimum wage, but a wage their staff can actually afford to live on. I’m also calling on the HMRC to publish the number of prosecutions for failure to pay the minimum wage. All workers need and I believe are entitled to this protection.

“I’ll be keen to make sure that any commissioned services we use also commit to paying the voluntary Living Wage. We are a small part of the bigger picture for Cheshire, so I hope our support encourages other businesses right across Cheshire’s public, private and voluntary sectors to make a similar commitment. By doing so we could make Cheshire a Voluntary Living Wage County.”

Katherine Chapman, director, Living Wage Foundation said: “Responsible organisations 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.

“We are a movement of over 3,600 UK employers who together want to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on. We have lots of small businesses as well as big household names like; IKEA, Aviva, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs and many more.

“These organisations recognise that the Living Wage accreditation is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like David Keane, join us because they too believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”