EastSide Partnership Becomes A Real Living Wage Employer

We are delighted to announce that EastSide Partnership has become accredited as a Living Wage Employer. Our Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at EastSide Partnership receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.90, significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s, which currently stands at £9.50 per hour.

Northern Ireland is the UK region with the highest proportion of non-Living Wage jobs in the country (21.3%), with over 236,000 jobs paying less than the real Living Wage. Despite this, we have committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 300,000 people and put over £1.6 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.

Michele Bryans, Chief Executive, EastSide Partnership said: “Becoming a living wage employer was important to us, both to show our commitment to our staff team and to raise awareness in east Belfast of the issues relating to pay and the impact this can have on individual’s lives.”

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We’re delighted that EastSide Partnership has joined the movement of almost 9,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.”