Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has been accredited as a living wage employer, a commitment which will see no-one working at the council paid below the current minimum hourly wage of £10.90, higher than the government minimum for over 23s, which currently stands at £10.42 per hour.
The announcement of accreditation follows on from agreement by Cabinet in 2021, in which all of the contracted adult independent social care workers, as well as all direct payment recipients, received the real living wage from 2021. The council was already providing the real living wage to in-house social care workers and domiciliary care workers in the independent sector.
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 staff earn a reasonable wage they can live on, not just the government minimum.
Councillor Maureen Webber, deputy leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, said:
“I am extremely proud that Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has been accredited as a living wage employer.
“We were already paying many of our staff the real living wage, especially those working in the social care sector, however, we have now gone over and above that.
“Better pay benefits everyone, from the person receiving it to the local businesses in which they shop. It also helps us as an employer to attract and retain the staff that deliver the vital services that the nearly a quarter of a million residents in Rhondda Cynon Taf rely on.”