Power2 is delighted to have been accredited as a Living Wage Employer. The Living Wage commitment means we are held accountable to the fact that all staff will continue to receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.30 in the UK or £10.75 in London. Both rates are significantly higher than the government minimum for over 25s, which currently stands at £8.72 per hour.

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 230,000 people and put over £1 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.

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Power2 has offices in London and the North West, regions where 19% and 20% of jobs respectively pay less than the real Living Wage – over 1.35 million jobs in total. We see the impact of this every day in our work with young people in those regions. Last year 86% of the young people who took part in our programmes were from economically disadvantaged families and our recent survey on the impact of Covid-19 showed concerning inequalities in the way lockdown and school closures are impacting the education and mental health of young people from poorer backgrounds.

Growing up in poverty shapes children’s whole futures. That’s just one of the reasons that we are committed to paying the real Living Wage to our own staff but also wholeheartedly support the work of the Living Wage foundation in campaigning to ensure others do the same.

 

Julie Randles, CEO, says:

“We are delighted to be an accredited Living Wage employer. We work to make sure all young people can reach their potential, and economic disadvantage is a barrier for far too many. We believe passionately that everyone should be paid a wage they can live on – a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. We hope that as more companies join this movement it will put pressure on others to do the same, so that fewer of the UK’s young people suffer the impact of living in poverty.”