Oxfordshire-based Sky Wave Gin has received living wage accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation.
As a result of this commitment, all Sky Wave Gin employees will now receive a minimum hourly wage of £10.90, which is higher than the government minimum rate for those aged 23 and over, currently standing at £10.42 per hour. This is due to rise to at least £11 an hour from April 2024.
The real living wage rate is calculated by the Living Wage Foundation 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 as opposed to just the government minimum.
Sky Wave Gin moved to the voluntary living wage after discovering that just over 9% of all jobs in the south east England area it is based in pay less than the real living wage, equating to around 374,000 jobs.
Rachel Hicks, co-founder of Sky Wave Gin, said: “We are proud to be a living wage accredited employer. We believe in paying our wonderful team a fair wage for a fair day’s work. We deeply value all the skills and personality which everyone who works for us brings to Sky Wave Gin, and with the cost-of-living crisis still biting hard, we want to help our team as much as possible.”
Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, added: “We’re delighted that Sky Wave Gin has joined the movement of more than 12,000 responsible employers across the UK which voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on. These businesses recognise that paying the real living wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Sky Wave Gin, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”
The Living Wage Foundation is due to announce its latest pay rates on Tuesday 24 October.