Oxford City Council is celebrating this year’s Living Wage Week with a very special milestone, as the number of employers in the city paying staff the Oxford Living Wage reaches one hundred.
Oxford is regularly named as one of the least affordable places to live in the country. Oxford City Council administers the Oxford Living Wage, which is set at 95% of the London Living Wage and aims to recognise the high cost of living in the city.
The Council began the scheme in 2019 with twenty employers, a figure that has now risen to one hundred in just three years.
Oxford Innovation, who provide innovation centre management and consultation services, have the honour of becoming the 100th Oxford Living Wage employer in 2022.
The company, which supports economic growth by helping businesses with advice, finance and space, will be recognised at a Living Wage Week celebration, alongside all the other Oxford Living Wage employers, at Oxford Town Hall on Thursday 1 December.
The event forms part of the annual celebration of the Living Wage movement and thanks the many businesses in the city signed up to pay staff the Oxford Living Wage. The event gives businesses a chance to network and hear from other employers about the benefits of being part of the scheme.
Employers who already pay the Oxford Living Wage are also being encouraged by the City Council to get accredited so they can get wider recognition.
The Oxford Living Wage
The Oxford Living Wage is an hourly minimum pay that promotes liveable earnings for all workers in the city.
The Oxford Living Wage rate will rise from the current rate of £10.50 per hour to the new rate of £11.35 from 5 April 2023.
The City Council’s employer recognition scheme is simple and free and offers businesses the opportunity to benefit from being an accredited Oxford Living Wage employer.
Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, said:
“Oxford is a high-cost city, so it’s really heartening to see so many employers in the city prioritising their staff, particularly when so many households are struggling this winter.
“As a City Council, one of our key aims is to build a fairer economy for everybody in our city and seeing a 400% increase in the number of employers paying an Oxford Living Wage in just three years is a great achievement.
“We’re encouraging more employers to join this important movement to make it feasible for more people to work and live in Oxford. Paying people a living wage doesn’t just help the individual and their family, but the latest research from the Living Wage Foundation shows it also helps our local economy more generally as people have more money to spend.”
Jo Stevens, Managing Director, Oxford Innovation Space, said:
“As a long standing company in Oxford, we are delighted to join the growing group of employers who believe that their staff should be appropriately rewarded, at a level that is a liveable wage for the City. We are very proud to have achieved both the Real Living Wage and Oxford Living Wage accreditation and now more than ever we feel it is the right thing to do for our existing staff and will help us attract people to come and work with us in the future.
“Without the people who make our business work we cannot deliver our services - they are our best asset, and this accreditation shows our commitment to them and our company values.”
The live list of the businesses and organisations in the city have already signed up can be viewed here:
https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20027/welfare_reform/1011/the_oxford_living_wage/2
For more information about the Oxford Living Wage, visit:
www.oxford.gov.uk/livingwage
