A MENTAL health charity in Reading has been accredited as a Living Wage Employer, it has been announced.
No5 Young People received the accreditation which means they are committed to paying the real Living Wage to deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
READ ALSO: Reading Festival: An overview of the weekend.The charity, formed in 1971, focuses on providing counselling, outreach and preventative mental health services to young people aged 10-25 years and to their parents/carers who live, work and study in the RG postcode.
Alyson Brickley, Director at No 5 said: “No5 Young People value our staff and contractors and convey this in many ways, wage being one.
“Even though we are a charity, we feel it’s important to pay a real living wage to cover real living costs.
“We all have bills to pay, food to buy and a roof to keep over our heads!”
She continued: “Our Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at No5 receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.00.
“This hourly rate is reviewed annually and we are committed to paying it if it goes up and although we have six months to do this we would do immediately!
“This is significantly higher than the government national minimum for over 25s, which is currently £8.21 per hour.”
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.
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