How to make the most of Week

15-21 Nov 2021 Your guide to getting involved in Living Wage Week Celebrating with you

Living Wage Week is the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement. Living Wage Week will take place on 15-21st November 2021, with the new Living Wage rates announced on Monday 15th November. This year is extra special as we also celebrate 20 years of the Living Wage movement.

Living Wage Week is the perfect opportunity for you to promote your Living Wage accreditation to staff, stakeholders and the general public. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about Living Wage Week.

What happens in Living Wage Week?

• New rates announced

• Top politicians celebrate the movement

• Celebrate the Living Wage movement

• Employers host online events In this guide...

• Living Wage: The basics • 20 years of the Living Wage • Let’s get digital • Join our online events • Host your own event • Merch this way • Window competition • Getting the public’s attention

• Living Wage: the basics

The Living Wage campaign is an independent movement of businesses, organisations and people who believe a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis - it provides an ethical benchmark for responsible pay.

The campaign for a Living Wage was launched by members of London Citizens in 2001. Parents in East London found that despite working on two or more minimum wage jobs they were struggling to make ends meet, and were left with no time for community and family life. It is an example of how civil society, businesses and organisations can work together to tackle in-work poverty. It enjoys cross party support with public backing from successive Metropolitan Mayors and MPs across the UK, including First Ministers in Wales and Scotland. Know the difference

• The real Living Wage is independently calculated based on what employees and their families need to live. This is why it’s higher than the government minimum wage, rebranded as the ‘National Living Wage’.

• Employers voluntarily choose to pay it - changing people’s lives right now.

• It applies to all workers over 18 - recognising that young people have the same living costs as everyone else.

Achievements of our movement

• The campaign for a real Living Wage has now delivered more than £1.5billion in extra wages to workers since it began in 2001.

• The movement has lifted over 260,000 people out of in-work poverty.

93% 93% 90% 85% of university of the Living of consumers of Living Wage graduates want Wage network agreed that Employers to work for a say it has pay should said it has Living Wage benefitted their reflect living enhanced their Employer business costs reputation as an employer LIVING WAGE WEEK 2021: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF THE LIVING WAGE MOVEMENT

20 years ago, the idea of a Living Wage was first born at a Citizens UK meeting in a church hall in East London. 20 years on, there are over 8,000 Living Wage employers and over £1.5 billion pounds has gone back into the pockets of low paid workers.

Throughout this year’s Living Wage Week, we’ll be celebrating our 20 year anniversary by exploring the Living Wage movement’s past, present and future. PAST

Celebrating our rich history During Living Wage Week we’ll be celebrating our movement’s rich history.

The idea for a Living Wage was born 20 years ago at a meeting in East London. Citizens UK brought together churches, mosques, schools and other local institutions to talk about the issues affecting their communities. One issue came up again and again – low pay.

From that meeting a powerful movement of faith leaders, trade unions and community organisations came together to call on major employers in the capital to pay their staff a London Living Wage. 10 years later, in 2011, the movement went national. We launched the first UK Living Wage rate and set up a to recognise and celebrate the businesses that choose to go further than the government minimum. PRESENT

Celebrating the success and strength of the movement

As always, throughout Living Wage Week we’ll be celebrating the strength of our movement and our network of over 8,000 accredited employers.

Since last March, in spite of the pandemic’s impact on business, over 2,00 new employers committed to pay a real Living Wage. Many have been persuaded that it is not only the right thing to do, but that it makes good business sense, with healthier and more productive workers that are less likely to be absent or leave for another job.

These employers join over 8,000 Living Wage accredited employers, including major household names like Aviva, Nationwide, Tate and Lyle Sugars, Burberry, Brewdog, and thousands of small businesses. We look forward to celebrating our network during Living Wage Week.

FUTURE What’s next for the Living Wage Foundation?

As well as celebrating our rich history and success, throughout Living Wage Week we’ll be looking at what’s next for the movement. Despite the incredible impact of the campaign, we know there is more our movement can achieve together.

The past year’s pandemic has affected us all, but the poorest have been hit hardest. Two thirds of those earning below the Living Wage saw their pay fall last year, with devastating effects. More than a quarter of those earning below the real Living Wage were forced to regularly skip meals, while nearly half saw a negative impact on their levels of anxiety. Despite the pandemic shining a spotlight on the importance of low paid workers, over 5.5 million continue to earn less than the Living Wage.

That’s why we are looking at new ways to support workers and families and to tackle low pay. That includes our new Living Hours programme, providing workers with stable, guaranteed work hours; our Living Wage Places scheme with coalitions of employers in Dundee, Glenrothes, Cardiff, Salford and Bristol all committing to drive Living Wage take up in their localities; and we are now looking at ‘Living Pensions’ and a Global Living Wage, to provide security in retirement and to spread the learnings and successes of the Living Wage campaign to a global audience. Join our events

This year, we’ll be hosting a combination of online and in person events!

Please look at our events page to check out what events are taking place this Living Wage Week 2021. .

See what events are taking place here Host your own event 2020

As well as joining our events, hosting your own event is a brilliant way to spread the word about the Living Wage! The event could be with your own team or with other employers in your region/ sector. Below are some ideas from previous Living Wage Week events. If you are thinking of hosting an event - do get in touch with your usual Living Wage contact or [email protected].

Offline vs Online Whether you host an event online or in person – it's up to you! At the Foundation we’re hosting a combination of events online and in-person. For us sectoral events will be hosted online, with some of our smaller and regional focused events in-person. Get in touch if you have any questions or ideas on how to make online events more interactive.

Q&As and networking

If you’re looking for something small scale, why not take that business breakfast online and make it an informal session where you invite employers in your region or industry to network and find out more about becoming a Living Wage Employer. Networking events are most effective in person but can be done online using breakout rooms. Hold a panel discussion Why is the real Living Wage so important today, and in your industry or region? Reach out to other Living Wage Employers and hold a panel discussion to share perspectives on the issue of a real Living Wage today. Panel discussions can be easily adapted to an online event!

Team coffee morning

Hold an internal coffee morning style event, and invite your colleagues to find out more about what your Living Wage commitment means. If one of your colleagues has a story to share on the different the Living Wage has made to them and they feel confident, perhaps they could share this. Merch this way

If you need materials for decorating the workplace or promoting your commitment in your local area, we can provide you with a variety of products on our website, including:

Pens, totes, bunting and.... Vehicle stickers Badges Keep Cups

Flags Stencils Mugs

Order yours!

Questions? [email protected] #LivingWageWindow competition

We’re launching a #LivingWageWindow Competition in the run up to Living Wage Week 2021. It’s the perfect opportunity to promote your Living Wage commitment to your staff, customers and local community by getting creative with your windows.

The best window will win a bundle of Living Wage Employer goodies, as well as a promotional package tailored to your business from the Living Wage Foundation’s communications team.

Challenge Accepted?

To enter, you must:

• Post a picture of a public-facing window on your premises with a display celebrating the Living Wage on one or more of the following social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. • The post must be tagged #LivingWageWindow. • The entrant must be following the Living Wage Foundation on the platform they use to enter.

Find out more about entering the competitions and full T&C’s here. Get involved

50 FREE WINDOW STARTER PACKS for first to register to take part in the competition. Order yours Getting the public’s attention Using spaces to highlight you pay the real Living Wage proves extremely effective. Below are some example of what employers have done in the past to raise awareness of the real Living Wage.

Use the pavements!

Last year, Norwich City Council sprayed their pavements with Living Wage messages, like above. What a great way to get people’s attention on the way to work!

Put up some posters

In the past, the has secured posters across the London Underground during Living Wage Week. Clear Channel and Creature of London ran a joint campaign across UK billboards and digital advertising space.

Use what you’ve got.. buses/ATMs

National Express branded one of their buses in the West Midlands with a Living Wage logo for Living Wage Week. (Above)

Whereas Barclays put the logo on their ATMs. (Below)

Fly the Living Wage flag

Order a flag from us to fly on iconic buildings. In the past Cardiff Castle put up 40 Living Wage flags, and many oth- er council buildings have done the same - shout out to Hackney and Southwark Council. Making Living Waagege W Week 2021 ourur greatest y yeet!

In 2020:

• The Living Wage featured in over 643 seperate pieces of media coverage. In most years this has included BBC Breakfast.

• The rates were seen over 164K times on Twitter.

• #LivingWageWeek was trending having been tweeted over 10K times.

• Our website had 40K visits across the week.

Contact us: [email protected]

@LivingWageUK

#LivingWageWeek

Powered by