Living Wage Funders in 2023-24
Brought to you by:
Lianna Etkind, Partnerships & Campaigns Manager at the Living Wage Foundation
Just over one in ten jobs in the charity sector (12% in 2024) are paid below the real Living Wage. It’s a sector jammed with organisations whose stated missions are to reduce poverty, to address disadvantage, and to make their communities fairer. But despite a plethora of good intentions, many charities are still not ensuring that their own workers can afford the basics for a decent life.
It’s not hard to understand why. Times are tough for the charity sector, and funders are seeing firsthand the volume of applications and the level of need among the organisations they work with.
That’s where Living Wage Funders come in. There are 84 Living Wage Funders, ranging from small community funders to large trusts and corporate foundations. They make three commitments:
- Being a Living Wage Employer – i.e. ensuring that their staff, and third party workers like cleaners, are paid at least the real Living Wage
- Seeking to ensure their grant-funded posts or investment-funded posts are funded at the real Living Wage wherever possible
- Supporting grantees to become Living Wage Employers
Based on the real costs of living
Over the last decade, Living Wage Funders have worked quietly but effectively to make impressive inroads into in-work poverty among their grantees. Motivated by the conviction that people who work for a charity should be able to meet the costs of living, they ensure that their grantees are able to pay staff, and outsourced workers, the real Living Wage – currently £12.60, and £13.80 in London.
The real Living Wage is paid by over 16,000 employers, including over 2,000 charities who choose to go beyond the Government minimum wage. It’s a rate that is independently calculated based on the real costs of living.
And the Living Wage Funders scheme has been working. Over the last ten years, low pay in the charity sector has fallen from 17% in 2015 to 12% today. Part of the effectiveness of the Living Wage Funder scheme has been the power of funders working collectively: together, the 84 Living Wage Funders made £2.8 billion of grants in 2023-24, or £1.5 billion excluding Wellcome Trust. The majority also publish their grants using the 360Giving Data Standard, demonstrating their commitment to responsible practice.
Living Wage funders
Source: 360Giving analysis of data from Charity Regulators and charity accounts
*Data not available
Living Wage, racial justice and gender justice
Supporting charities to pay their people the real Living Wage has a ripple effect on making the charity sector stronger and more sustainable. When workers are paid the real Living Wage, their health, and the health of their families, improves. Charities report better employee satisfaction, and better staff retention. And of course, decent pay is an issue of equality and inclusivity. Women in the charity sector are more likely to experience low pay(1), as are people from particular racialised minorities. When funders commit to supporting their grantees to pay the real Living Wage, they are ensuring that their funding processes support a more equitable and inclusive charity sector.
This is particularly true in terms of making the charity sector a more welcoming place for people from diverse backgrounds to build their career. At the moment, people from working-class backgrounds are sorely under-represented. A major barrier is low pay at entry level: research from EY Foundation(2) found that pay and benefits are the biggest factor in encouraging young people from low-income households to consider a career in the charity sector. It’s encouraging to see that so many funders are supporting their grantees to take the most impactful step towards a workforce that better reflects the UK. Charities hugely appreciate knowing that grant-funded jobs they offer, including at entry level, are paid enough to live on; including for people without savings or family support.
Becoming a Living Wage Funder
If you’re interested in becoming a Living Wage Funder, you can find more information here; you can also email lianna.etkind@livingwage.org.uk. You’ll find that accreditation is a simple and straightforward process. Grant applicants value the reassurance that they don’t have to ‘price’ wages in grant applications as low as possible, knowing that a funder is committed to ensuring that their grants cover the real costs of living.
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