Published on 16 November 2022
The University of Sunderland has joined the rest of the city to become the first in the north-east to be recognised as a Making a Living Wage City.
In April 2022, the University implemented the real living wage for UK employees and casual workers in Sunderland and London.
The University has now met full accreditation, which means it has committed to pay all its employees and casual workers at least the Real Living Wage, and that the University has worked with its contractors to ensure they have a plan to pay the real living wage to their staff within a fixed timescale.
This week Sunderland became the first city in the north-east to be recognised as a Living Wage City by the Living Wage Foundation, which campaigns for workers to be paid a real Living Wage.
Plans announced by the City Council could see the number of workers in Sunderland earning the real Living Wage triple over the next three years.
As one of Sunderland’s largest employers, it is important that the University backs the city-wide campaign to support local wealth creation.
University Secretary Andrea Walters said: “The University is delighted to be an accredited Living Wage Foundation Employer. We implemented the real living wage in April 2022 which has had a positive impact on almost 300 individuals.
“We recognise that implementing the real living wage is not only the right thing to do for our staff, it also makes good business sense. This long-term investment in our people very much aligns to our values and acknowledges the commitment and dedication of all our University staff in providing excellent support to our students.”
The UK real living wage is an independently calculated hourly rate based on a realistic wage that allows individuals and their families to meet their everyday needs.
The new Real Living Wage rates were recently announced as £10.90 per hour (outside London) and £11.95 per hour (London); we already pay well above the previous rates of £9.90 (£11.05 in London) and will be uplifting to the newly announced rates by April. This compares with the current statutory "national living wage" (set by the Government) of £8.91 per hour.