Stockport-based charity, Pure Innovations has announced it will offer all front line support staff the Real Living Wage, representing a pay increase of up to 8.5%.
Pure’s front line support team has been instrumental and essential in continuing to deliver exceptional and necessary services after more than a year of uncertainty and difficulty due to the pandemic. The decision to raise the pay of front line support staff to be in alignment with the Real Living Wage was described as an important gesture for the charity to make in recognition of its staff’s important work.
The Real Living Wage now stands at £9.50 per hour in areas outside London, effective from 1 April 2021. The wage gap between the National Living Wage (£8.91 for those aged 23 and over) and the Real Living Wage is still significant. Pure’s CEO, Louise Parrott-Bates, said the decision reflected the value the staff brings to the organisation as well as their expectations and responsibilities.
In a statement on the Pure Innovations website to announce the decision, the charity remarked:
Pure is a lively, forward-thinking company with fresh ideas and ambitious goals. We believe that people are more able to support our clients when they feel valued and empowered, and that the living wage demonstrates our appreciation for them and their work.
We are pleased to be able to offer this to our employees and understand how fortunate we are to be able to do so, especially in a time of frequent furloughing and continued uncertainty.