Hargreaves Lansdown becomes living wage employer

Hargreaves Lansdown has become a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer.

The financial services company will join 164 others that have received such recognition, and is the forty-third accredited living wage employer on the FTSE 100 Index.

Hargreaves Lansdown’s commitment will see all staff and contractors receive at least £9.50 per hour across the UK and £10.85 per hour in London. Both of these rates are higher than the UK government’s national living wage per hour for people over the age of 23, which currently stands at £8.91 per hour.

The living wage is a pay rate calculated according to the costs of living, and provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn an amount they can survive on, not just the minimum that the UK government offers.

Josephine Grunwell, interim joint chief people officer at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “As a responsible business, we care about our colleagues, clients and communities, and our living wage accreditation cements our long-standing commitment to fair pay and supporting financial resilience, and is a visible marker of who we are, our values and what we stand for.”

Laura Gardiner, director at the Living Wage Foundation, added that Hargreaves Lansdown’s accreditation proves the many business benefits of paying the living wage, and she hopes that many other of Britain’s top firms will follow its example of being an “essential” lifeline to employees.

“We’re delighted that Hargreaves Lansdown have joined the movement of almost 8,000 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,” she said, adding that in this difficult time, the company’s commitment will help to give its staff the additional support they need to better care for themselves and their families.