Everton Football Club have become only the second Premier League club to sign up with the Living Wage Foundation to pay the real Living Wage which meets the cost of living.
Becoming a Living Wage employer will see the club, over the next three years, ensure that over 700 contractors working for Everton will receive a pay rise amounting up to as much as an additional £2,000 a year.
In addition to this, 250 casual and/or match-day staff have had a pay rise as a result of Everton becoming an accredited Living Wage employer.
Everton have accredited three separate organisations; their charitable arm – Everton in the Community, Everton in the Community Free School Trust and Everton Football Club Company Limited to complete the process of becoming a real Living Wage employer.
On their decision to go further than paying the government minimum, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Deputy Chief Executive and Director at Everton Football Club, said: “Here at Everton we are committed to being a first choice employer and becoming Living Wage accredited is a natural step towards that.
“We have been working hard behind the scenes and consulting with our staff and stakeholders; it is extremely important to us that we treat all of our colleagues well and reward people fairly in terms of their pay.
“Supporting the accredited Living Wage is quite simply the right thing to do; it improves our employees’ quality of life but also benefits our business and society as a whole.
Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation welcomed the accreditation saying: “It is fantastic that Everton Football Club have become the second Premier League football club to sign up as a Living Wage employer, ensuring that all their staff – from caterers to match day staff – receives a real Living Wage that covers the cost of living.
“By putting more pounds in the pockets of their staff, Everton are signing up to a win-win scenario that rewards a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay. I congratulate Everton and hope other football clubs will take their lead and follow suit”.
Everton join Chelsea FC who were the first Premier League club to become an accredited Living Wage club in December 2014.
The UK Living Wage rate has increased by 2.4% from £8.25 to £8.45 and £9.40 per hour to £9.75 in London – an increase of 3.7 per cent.
This is 17% higher than the government minimum for over 25s which is £7.20 per hour. Employees working for accredited Living Wage employers will receive this new rate of pay that meets the cost of living at the start of the new financial year in May 2017.
