Living Wage Employer

The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that Neath Town Council has today been accredited as a Living Wage employer.

The Living Wage commitment means that all Neath Town Council staff will receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.75. This rate is significantly higher than the UK Government’s statutory minimum of £7.50 per hour introduced in April 2017.

The Real Living Wage is set independently, updated annually and calculated according to the real costs of living.

Councillor Mark Protheroe, Neath Town Mayor stated that “Neath Town Council has supported the Living Wage since its inception in October 2014 and we are pleased to now have accreditation and to be recognised in this way by the Living Wage Foundation. The Council employs staff from the surrounding locality and when the Living Wage was first introduced, Members wished to demonstrate their appreciation to the workforce who show such dedication to the Council and its Members. The Town Council is continuing to develop and strengthen its community activities with the recent agreement to support the Christmas lights for a further three years. This shows the commitment and passion the Town Council has to ensure that Neath continues to be a prosperous and developing Town”.

Employers choose to pay the real Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross-party political support.

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We welcome Neath Town Council 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 3,600 UK employers who together want to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on. We have lots of small businesses as well as big household names like; IKEA, Aviva, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs and many more.

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