Guest Blog: Living Wage - Matthew Butcher, fairpensions.org.uk

Labour Students’ campaign to bring Living Wages to universities across the UK is playing a vital part in a fight against low pay that has been running for over ten years. It is vital not just for the low paid workers themselves but also for their children, who are increasingly likely to be growing up in poverty.

It is commonly assumed that child poverty only affects kids whose parents don’t work but this simply is not the case. In fact, 59% of poor children have at least one parent who is working. In Britain today it is ever more difficult to ‘work’ yourself and your family out of poverty. Parents on low wages are often forced into the unenviable choice between earning enough to support their family and spending time with their kids.

The Resolution Foundation estimates that there are 5 million people- 21% of employees- who earn less than a Living Wage. A Living Wage is defined as a wage that would provide a ‘minimum acceptable quality of life’. 27% of women, who are more likely to be single parents than men, earn below the Living Wage.

Parents should not be forced to work all of the hours of the day to provide their families with barely enough money to enjoy a decent quality of life. Testimony from this parent gives an insight into the very real difficulties facing parents on low pay:

"[I]Leave the house when it's dark and come back home when it's dark. I hardly see my family and wonder where my life has gone."

The scale of the low pay problem is particularly shocking when compared to the escalating pay packages of Britain’s top earners. Last year, CEO pay in the FTSE 100 jumped up by 32% while workers’ wages fell in real terms.

But the situation is not hopeless. Ten of London’s leading universities are or have committed to become Living Wage employers, paying all their staff – including cleaners on contracts – a wage of £8.30/hour, over £2 more than the national minimum wage. And with this year’s announcement of – for the first time ever – a national Living Wage rate for outside London, it’s to be hoped that many more universities will soon be following suit.

While Labour Students’ focus on university staff, FairPensions’ JustPay! campaign is demanding that Living Wages are paid to FTSE 100 workers. These workers, who work in banks, shops and offices, might well be on your campus and will certainly be on your high street. It is heartening that an increasing number of people are fighting for Living Wages. Let’s hope that our joint efforts will see workers and their families pulled out of poverty across the UK over the next year.

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Matthew joined FairPensions in January 2011. He has previously worked as a community worker in Nottingham, for Nottingham University Students Union and as a volunteer press and publicity officer for a number of organisations.

FairPensions is a registered charity established to promote responsible investment practices by pension providers and fund managers. FairPensions champions greater transparency and accountability to the millions of people whose long-term savings are managed by institutional investors and other professional agents.

FairPensions believes that responsible investment helps to safeguard investments as well as securing environmental and social benefits.

Find out more about FairPensions and their JustPay! campaign at www.fairpensions.org.uk/justpay