The Living Wage Foundation is pleased to announce that Five Minute Box UK Ltd, has today accredited as a Living Wage employer.

The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Five Minute Box UK Ltd, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors; receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.25 – significantly higher than the national minimum wage of £6.70 and the new minimum wage premium for over 25s of £7.20 per hour set to be introduced this April.

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.

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

Living Wage Foundation Director, Katherine Chapman said: “We are delighted to welcome FIVE MINUTE BOX UK LTD to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer.

“The best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the Living Wage now. The Living Wage is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay.

“We have accredited over 2,500 leading employers, including FIVE MINUTE BOX UK LTD, ranging from independent printers, bookshops and breweries, to well-known companies such as Nationwide, Aviva and SSE. These businesses recognise that clinging to the national minimum wage is not good for business. Customers expect better than that.”

About the Living Wage Foundation

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support.

The London Living Wage is currently £9.40 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 £8.25 per hour. This figure is set annually by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University.

The Living Wage Foundation recognises and celebrates the leadership shown by Living Wage employers across the UK. There are currently over 2,500 accredited employers. We are an initiative of Citizens UK. We believe that work should be the surest way out of poverty.

We receive guidance and advice from the Living Wage Advisory Council. The Foundation is supported by ten principal partners: Aviva; Joseph Rowntree Foundation; KPMG; Linklaters; Nationwide; Nestle; Resolution Foundation; Save the Children; Trust for London; and Queen Mary University of London.

What about the Government’s national living wage?

In July 2015 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the UK Government will introduce a compulsory ‘national living wage’. This new government rate is a minimum wage premium rate for staff over 25 years old. It will be introduced from April 2016 and the rate will be £7.20 per hour. The rate is separate to the Living Wage rate calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.  The government rate is based on median earnings while the Living Wage Foundation rate is calculated according to the cost of living.

The National Minimum Wage
(including the ‘national living wage’)

• The legal minimum an employee can earn in an hour. Employers break the law if they fail to pay this rate
• The ‘national living wage’ rate will be £7.20 an hour
• This will increase each year, with the aim of reaching 60% of the median wage across the country by 2020 (this would mean around £9 an hour but the Low Pay Commission will consider what the market can bear)
• Different rates apply depending on the age of the employee. The ‘national living wage’ is for over 25s only
• Set by the Low Pay Commission
• Based on an estimation of what the market can bear
• The rates are the same right across the UK