The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Commercial, regardless of whether they are direct employees or third-party contracted staff; receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.75 (£10.20 in London). Both rates are significantly higher than the statutory minimum for over 25s of £7.50 per hour introduced in April 2017.

The real Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the real costs of living.

Simone Hindmarch-Bye, co-founder of Commercial, says:

“We’ve always believed that everyone putting in a day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. Becoming a Living Wage accredited employer underlines our commitment to this. At Commercial, we put a lot of energy into maintaining a sustainable and responsible business culture. Treating staff well – and going beyond legislative requirements – is an important aspect of this.”

Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross-party political support.

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation, adds:

“We welcome Commercial to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer. Responsible businesses across the UK are voluntarily signing up to pay the real Living Wage now. The real Living Wage rate is annually calculated to reflect the real costs of living. We are a movement of over 3,600 UK employers who together want to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on. We have lots of small businesses as well as big household names like; IKEA, Aviva, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs and many more. 

“These businesses recognise that the Living Wage accreditation is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Commercial, join us because they too believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay."