DILIGENCE CELEBRATES LIVING WAGE COMMITMENT

The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that Diligence (PM) Services Ltd has today accredited as a Living Wage employer.

The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Diligence, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors; receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.45 - significantly higher than the national minimum wage of £6.95 and the new minimum wage premium for over 25s of £7.20 per hour introduced this April.

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.

“Diligence have chosen to become a Living Wage accredited employer because people matter, and we want all our employees to know they are valued and that their work is important” explained Alison Scrivener, Operations Manager.

Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support, with public backing from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Living Wage Foundation Director, Katherine Chapman said: “We are delighted to welcome Diligence to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer.

“The best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the Living Wage now. The Living Wage is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay.

“We have accredited nearly 3,000 leading employers, including Diligence, ranging from independent printers, bookshops and breweries, to well-known companies such as Nationwide, Aviva and SSE. These businesses recognise that clinging to the National Living Wage is not good for business. Customers expect better than that."

ENDS

Media Contact

Living Wage

Shazia Ejaz, shazia.ejaz@citizensuk.org

Or

Esmat Jeraj, 07809608786, esmat.jeraj@citizensuk.org

Notes to Editors

About the Living Wage Foundation

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support.

The London Living Wage is currently £9.75 per hour. The UK Living Wage for outside of London is currently £8.45 per hour. These figures are set by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the independent Living Wage Commission.

The Living Wage Foundation recognises and celebrates the leadership shown by Living Wage employers across the UK. There are currently nearly 3,000 accredited employers. We are an initiative of Citizens UK. We believe that work should be the surest way out of poverty.

We receive guidance and advice from the Living Wage Advisory Council. The Foundation is supported by our principal partners: Aviva; IKEA; Joseph Rowntree Foundation; KPMG; Linklaters; Nationwide; Nestle; Resolution Foundation; Oxfam; Trust for London; and Queen Mary University of London.

What about the Government’s national living wage?

In July 2015 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the UK Government would introduce a compulsory ‘national living wage’. This new government rate is a minimum wage premium rate for staff over 25 years old. It was introduced in April 2016 and the rate is £7.20 per hour. The rate is separate to the Living Wage rate calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.  The government rate is based on median earnings while the Living Wage Foundation rate is calculated according to the cost of living. 

The National Minimum Wage

(including the ‘national living wage’)

The Living Wage

 The legal minimum an employee can earn in an hour. Employers break the law if they fail to pay this rate

 A voluntary rate that employers commit to pay in order to go above and beyond. The Living Wage Employer Mark is a sign of best practice

 The ‘national living wage’ rate is set at £7.20 an hour  The current UK Living Wage is £8.45 an hour.

The current London Living Wage is £9.75 an hour

 This will increase each year, with the aim of reaching 60% of the median wage across the country by 2020 (this would mean around £9 an hour but the Low Pay Commission will consider what the market can bear)

 This will increase in line with the cost of living with increases announced in Living Wage Week every year

 Different rates apply depending on the age of the employee. The ‘national living wage’ is for over 25s only

 The Living Wage is the same for all employees over the age of 18

 Set by the Low Pay Commission  Set by the Living Wage Foundation

 Based on an estimation of what the market can bear  Based on the cost of living

 The rates are the same right across the UK  There is a separate rate for London to reflect the higher cost of living in the Capital


Attached Media


About Diligence (PM) Services Ltd

Nicola Coppen founded Diligence in April 2014, with the first contract being for the provision of Infrastructure Project Management for Thames Water – an early milestone for the company and in April 2016, she decided the time was right to begin expansion for the company into a larger consultancy. In October 2016, it was announced that she was a Finalist in The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, supported by NatWest. Diligence is a people-led consultancy, providing proven Project Managers, incorporating the need to encourage local employment and develop Project Managers of the future. As a word synonymous with Nicola’s aptitude, given to her by those she worked with, ‘Diligence’ was the obvious company name and therefore we have to consider ‘diligence’ in all we do. Nicola’s aspiration is to provide Project Management to the various Construction and Infrastructure projects in the southeast and London, employing more Project Managers to deliver the high profile projects in our pipeline. Diligence employees will be a mix of experienced people, supported by younger trainees and apprentices (as a business mentor to a local Academy, Nicola is well placed to find our future Project Managers). Their success will be rewarded when the business becomes an Employee Owned Business in the future.