PDMS joins increasing number of employers in Scotland by signing up for the Living Wage Accreditation

Doing the right thing for employees

In 2001 the Living Wage movement was formed in East London, where Citizens UK encouraged institutions including schools, trade unions and faith organisations to speak up about the issues, specifically low pay, affecting their communities. A few years later in 2014, Living Wage Scotland was launched and since then local authorities, health boards and companies across all sectors and industries have committed to paying their staff a decent wage.

PDMS has long been known to put its employees first and continually strives to ensure a fair working environment for all members of staff.   This year, however, we felt we should go a step further and join the increasing number of employers in Scotland signing up to the Living Wage Accreditation, which we were proudly awarded with at the beginning of November. 

We felt it was important to become an accredited Living Wage company, because whilst PDMS has always paid its employees at least the minimum wage, we wanted to ensure that all our key subcontractors also paid their staff the Living Wage. By signing up to the scheme, we would guarantee this outcome. 

The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate calculated according to the costs of living. Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis, recognising the value of their workers and ensuring that a hard day’s work receives a fair day’s pay. The Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 45,000 people in Scotland and put over £240 million extra into the pockets of low paid Scottish workers. However, as it stands today, over 15% of all jobs pay less than the real Living Wage, which accounts for around 350,000 jobs.

Peter Kelly, Director of The Poverty Alliance said:

Too many workers in Scotland are in the grip of poverty and employers choosing to pay at least the real Living Wage can loosen that grip. Payment of the real Living Wage allows those in work to become more included in society, better meet their everyday needs, and feel that their value and hard work is recognised by their employer.

There is currently a support a network of over 2000 employers in Scotland, spanning private, public and third sectors and these companies are committed to paying their staff a decent wage.  If you’d like to get involved, the process is simple:

• Pay all directly employed staff aged 18 and over the real Living Wage (currently £9.50 per hour)
• Pay or have a plan in place to pay contracted workers the real Living Wage
• Complete the contact form below to start the application process

Living Wage Scotland is a partnership with the Living Wage Foundation and is funded by the Scottish Government.