Standard Life first in private sector to join new Living Wage ‘Friendly Funder Scheme’

This is an extension to Standard Life’s commitment to the Living Wage and the important role it plays in helping people and communities to prosper.

Standard Life employs over 5,000 people in the UK and all its employees receive the Living Wage as a minimum. It also ensures that all of its interns and people based on its premises who are providing contracted services receive the Living Wage too.

Now, in becoming a “Living Wage Friendly Funder”, Standard Life has also committed to helping those charities it has funding relationships with to pay the Living Wage for any grant-funded posts. This approach will apply to grants made through both Standard Life plc and the Standard Life Charitable Trust.

Living Wage Friendly Funders support charities to pay the Living Wage through their grant-making, working together to help end low pay in the Voluntary and Community Sector and, where possible, encourage grantees to become accredited employers over time.

The Minimum Wage in the UK is currently £6.50 an hour in the UK, but the UK Living Wage, which is set independently and calculated in accordance to the basic cost of living in the UK, is considerably higher at £7.85, rising to £9.15 in London.

Rhys Moore, director of the Living Wage Foundation said: “We are delighted to recognise Standard Life as a Living Wage Friendly Funder. The leadership shown by Standard Life demonstrates a commitment to tackling the serious problems that low pay brings to our communities.

“Many organisations in the voluntary and community sectors are working hard to tackle social injustice and poverty; it’s only right that those committed to these roles are afforded at least a Living Wage. We hope to see many more funders and corporates follow the lead of Standard Life and the other Living Wage Friendly Funders.

“At a time when half of those in poverty live in a household where someone has a job, the Living Wage is much needed by families across the UK. 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.”

Standard Life’s chief operations officer, Sandy Begbie, said: “We are delighted to have become the first Living Wage Friendly Funder in the private sector, extending our commitment to the Living Wage and doing more to support the wider communities we work with. When we committed to paying the Living Wage to our employees, our interns and those based on our premises who are providing services, we knew we would like to help the charities we work with to pay their employees the Living Wage too. We have seen first-hand the real difference that paying the Living Wage can make and we would strongly urge all businesses to consider adopting the Living Wage as a way of doing business.”