Living Wage to be paid to all Parliamentary workers

3rd December 2014

All contractor staff working at the Scottish Parliament will be guaranteed a Living Wage, Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick announced today.

All directly employed Parliamentary staff are already paid at a level above the Living Wage rate and today's announcement extends the Living Wage guarantee to their colleagues who are employed through contractors.

The decision - endorsed by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body – will mean that all contractor staff, including catering and cleaning staff, employed at the Parliament will receive an hourly rate of at least £7.85 per hour from 1 January 2015.

The Parliament has now been formally accredited by The Living Wage Foundation as a Living Wage Employer.
Making the announcement, the Presiding Officer the Rt Hon Tricia Marwick MSP said:"I am delighted that – as an employer – the Parliament has moved to ensure the Living Wage guarantee now extends to all staff who work directly at the Parliament. The cost of meeting this commitment is relatively small in financial terms but is hugely symbolic to employees and employers alike. Ensuring that employees receive decent pay and conditions is the hallmark of a good employer and I hope that our decision will encourage other organisations across Scotland to make the same commitment to their staff."

Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance said:"We are delighted that the Scottish Parliament have joined the Living Wage Employer movement by becoming an accredited Living Wage Employer. The accreditation of such a symbolic employer demonstrates that the Living Wage is a well-regarded concept that has benefits for individuals, employers and wider society. We hope the leadership shown by the Scottish Parliament will encourage other employers to consider how they support staff who are on lower wages, and to move towards becoming Living Wage Employers."

The Scottish Parliament has agreed, with all relevant contractors, to ensure that all contractor staff who are employed exclusively and directly to work at the Parliament are in receipt of the Living Wage.

It is expected that the new arrangements will be in place by 1 January 2015. The initial cost of uprating salaries will be around £21,000 with annual readjustments likely to cost the Parliament around an additional £7,000 per year. Around 26 cleaning and catering staff are expected to benefit from the move (a combination of full and part-time staff).
The current Scottish Living Wage is £7.85 an hour year.

Although the Scottish Parliament is looking to secure formal accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation, the decision to pay the Living Wage is not linked to the accreditation process.
- See more at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/newsandmediacentre/84404.aspx#sthash.6fKln0V5.dpuf