Vernon Building Society receives Living Wage Employer accreditation

Stockport’s Vernon Building Society has been accredited as a Living Wage Employer by the Living Wage Foundation.

The building society’s Living Wage commitment will ensure all colleagues at the Vernon receive a minimum hourly wage of £12, higher than the current government minimum for over 23s, currently set at £10.42.

Accreditation comes during Living Wage Week, from 6th-10th November and sees the Vernon join a growing number of businesses in Stockport commit to fair pay as Greater Manchester pushes to become the UK’s first Living Wage City-region. In the North West, 12.5% of all jobs pay less than the £12 Real Living Wage – affecting around 367,000 workers in the region.

Securing Living Wage accreditation signifies a wider commitment from Vernon Building Society to become an employer of choice in Stockport ahead of its one hundredth birthday in 2024. The building society has been benchmarking salaries as part of the BSA Benchmarking Survey for four years and this enables Vernon to compare salaries with over twenty other building societies and ensure the wages are in line with others from the sector. This data is shared with staff for transparency.

The Real Living Wage initiative at the Vernon has seen the lowest paid staff, such as cleaners, benefit from an increase in salary.

Judith Aspin (pictured), FD at Vernon Building Society commented:

“Paying the Real Living Wage is not only the right thing to do, but it makes good business sense. Vernon Building Society has been benchmarking our salaries for the past four years as part of our commitment to fair pay, and it’s resulted in higher job satisfaction amongst staff, and it helps us recruit the brightest talent.

“Vernon is a firm supporter of the Real Living Wage. We ask all suppliers and contractors to check if they are paying the Real Living Wage, and during Living Wage Week I encourage other businesses to do the same.”

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 460,000 people and put £3 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said:

“We’re delighted that Vernon Building Society has joined the movement of over 14,000 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.

“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Everton Football Club and many more. These businesses recognise that paying the Real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like the Vernon, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”