The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that the British Cleaning Council has today become accredited as a Living Wage employer.

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually, and is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK.

BCC Chairman Doug Cooke said: ‘The BCC has been a staunch supporter of the Living Wage Foundation for a number of years and we wanted to show our support and commitment by signing up. There are a variety of robust, ethical and pragmatic reasons as to why this campaign is worth backing, and I hope that by signing up, the BCC can inspire many other companies in the cleaning industry to follow suit.’

Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis, and it now enjoys cross party support, with public backing from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Living Wage Foundation Director, Rhys Moore said: “We are delighted to welcome the BCC to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer.

Research by the BCC has found that paying the Living Wage can actually prove cost-effective in the cleaning industry by reducing staff ‘churn’ and absenteeism, and by increasing staff morale, which in turn leads to improvements in productivity. The BCC say that Living Wage must remain voluntary, but wherever companies can, they should pay it.

The London Living Wage is currently £9.15 per hour. This figure is set annually by the Greater London Authority and covers all boroughs in Greater London. The UK Living Wage for outside of London is currently £7.85 per hour. This figure is set annually by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.