Gorgie City Farm has become the 800th Scottish-based Living Wage accredited employer. Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work Keith Brown made the announcement while visiting the farm where he met staff benefitting from their commitment to fair work principles.
The Scottish Government has set a target of reaching 1,000 Scottish-based Living Wage Accredited Employers by autumn 2017. The new Real Living Wage rate was announced at the end of October 2016 as £8.45 an hour.
Mr Brown said: “This is a significant step in our drive to promote fairer working environments for Scottish employees and ensures people’s basic wage continues to meet the real cost of living.
“Paying the Real Living Wage makes sense for businesses. It’s an investment in people and all the evidence shows it leads to increased productivity and reduced staff absence, while sending a strong signal to customers about fairness.
“I am particularly pleased that Gorgie City Farm has made this commitment, setting a good example to other employers around the country.
“We will continue to work with the ‘Scottish Living Wage Accreditation Initiative’ to encourage more businesses to recognise the benefits of paying the Real Living Wage as we move towards meeting our target of reaching 1,000 Living Wage accredited employers by autumn 2017.”
Josiah Lockhart, Chief Executive, Gorgie City Farm, said: “Becoming a Living Wage organisation is an important milestone for Gorgie City Farm acting on our charity’s principals of supporting people to live fuller, more equitable lives. Making sure all our staff are paid the living wage, many whom came through our support programmes, ensuring they all are valued and able to make ends meet.”
Peter Kelly, Director, The Poverty Alliance, said: “The Poverty Alliance congratulates Gorgie City Farms for becoming our 800th accredited Living Wage employer in Scotland . The real Living Wage has overwhelming support in Scotland, as demonstrated in a recent Survation poll with 3 out of every 4 Scots supporting it. And over 25,000 people have got a pay rise in Scotland with the real Living Wage- one that reflects the actual cost of living. It helps them have a better quality of life – from being able to do things like afford driving lessons, save some money for a rental deposit or have a night out at the cinema with friends.
“Accrediting is one of the simplest and quickest ways to demonstrate how much employers value their staff with a simple online form to fill in; it boosts staff morale across the board, helps retain staff for longer thus cutting recruitment costs, and many employers report it helps encourage higher quality candidates to apply.”
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