Posted on 2019-10-20 | 02:17

Dear Chief Executive,

Will You Pledge to Help the West Midlands Become the UK’s First Real Living Wage Region?

We write to ask if you can help the West Midlands become Britain’s first Real Living Wage region - where every employer pays its workers and contractors at least £9/hour and is accredited as such by the Real Living Wage Foundation.

As you probably know, low pay is a curse on our region. Since 2015, the number of people across the West Midlands visiting foodbanks has now risen to 142,000 per year - including 51,000 children. Low income is the biggest single reason for food bank use - and in our region, around 1 in 4 workers are paid below the real living wage which is only £9/ hour - that’s 571,000 workers.

However, our region has one of the lowest numbers of employers accredited by the Living Wage Foundation; Just 1 in 1,000 businesses are accredited in the region.

Paying the Living Wage however, is good for business. Ninety-three per cent of Living Wage-paying businesses have benefited from paying the Living Wage since they started. When workers have more money in their pocket, they feel more fulfilled in their career. It is good for their family, as they enjoy a better standard of living, and with the worker no longer needing to work two or three jobs to make ends meet, they have more family time. It is good for the employer as a better paid worker is happier, more committed and less likely to leave. Less churn of staff leads to a more stable and productive workforce. 75% of accredited Living Wage employers say that it has increased motivation and retention rates for employees.

So, we the undersigned are writing to the top 250 employers in the West Midlands Combined Authority area, along with the public sector to ask:

Will you commit to becoming a Real Living Wage employer accredited by the Real Living Wage Foundation, over the next 12 months?

We would be grateful if you could email yes or no answers to , by Monday 4th November 2019.

We will publish all responses to this survey on Monday 11th November, which is the beginning of Living Wage Week. According to the Living Wage Foundation, to become a Real Living Wage employer, “you need to pay all of your directly employed staff a Living Wage and have a plan in place to extend that to regular sub-contracted staff as well. The current Living Wage rates are £9.00 per hour [outside London].”

We have enclosed a guide - which can be found here: -

https://www.livingwage.org.uk/sites/default/files/Living%20Wage%20Implem...

We believe that together we can end the curse of poverty pay. And we hope we can count on your support in making it happen.