Health Foundation announces accreditation as a living wage employer

The Health Foundation is pleased to announce its commitment to being a living wage employer.

This will ensure everyone working at the Foundation, regardless of whether they are direct employees or third-party contracted staff, will receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.75 in the UK or £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. Employers choose to pay the real living wage on a voluntary basis.

Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive at the Health Foundation, said:

‘We are proud to announce that we are a living wage employer.

‘Income is one of the factors shaping our health and wellbeing. Living on an inadequate income makes it much harder to stay healthy, and poor health can trap people in poverty. On a low income it is more difficult to avoid stress and feel in control, and healthier choices can feel out of reach. Poor health in turn makes it harder to find meaningful work and a decent place to live, and can knock self-confidence– all of which affect our long term physical and mental health and life chances.

We support the work the Living Wage Foundation is doing to promote the real living wage that properly reflects the cost of living.’

Katherine Chapman, Director at the Living Wage Foundation said:

‘We welcome the Health Foundation 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 3700 UK employers who together want to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.

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