Lambeth Council and our South London neighbours Merton, Lewisham, Southwark and Greenwich are delighted to celebrate local south London employers as part of our “Good work and inclusive employment: Living Wage Week Celebration 2024” event on Tuesday, 5 November at Lambeth Town Hall. The Town Hall will be lit up in Living Wage blue on Monday to celebrate Living Wage Week.
We are excited to celebrate good work and inclusive employment in collaboration with Homeward Lambeth, flexible working expert Timewise and fair pay champion The Living Wage Foundation. We are creating a collective space to address in-work poverty and complex barriers to employment offering best practice, meaningful recommendations and shared learnings to contribute to a local economy that is dynamic, inclusive and equitable.
Bringing employers and services together
As Megan Doherty, Local Delivery Lead for Homewards Lambeth explains: “A lack of flexibly designed jobs can create barriers for people to sustain their employment as they struggle to manage housing, childcare and other life issues. This can ultimately push people into homelessness. The Good Work and Inclusive employment event is a great way to bring together employers and services to better understand how people can be supported to stay in their jobs and help businesses thrive.”
The event will also see us joined by Timewise, flexible working experts, who know that “flexible working offers a way into the workplace for people who can’t work full-time. That, in turn, has a positive impact on social inequality.”
Dignified and full life
Living Wage Foundation South-East Programme Manager Monalisa Saha, said “London is one of the wealthiest financial capitals in the world, but it’s also a city where half a million jobs are still paid below the real Living Wage and 51% of those in low-paid jobs have visited a food bank in the past year. Low-pay is one of the key drivers of in-work poverty, and when we talk about tackling insecurity in work, we propose an alternative standard for what fair wages and secure hours should be so that people can lead a dignified and full life.
Earning a real Living Wage makes a tangible difference in the lives of workers. The London Living Wage puts money back into the pockets of low paid staff, as more and more employers choose to become accredited Living Wage Employers.”
Living Wage Place
In Spring 2024, Lambeth started working with a Living Wage Action Group of local employers, alongside the Living Wage Foundation to begin the journey to becoming a Living Wage Place – a borough where the London Living Wage is the norm, promoting fair pay that is good for people and good for business. Lambeth now has nearly 300 local employers who are living wage accredited, with 70,860 people being paid a fair wage that takes the cost of living into account.
More information
- For more about event and on support from Lambeth Council, email livingwage@lambeth.gov.uk.
- Read about Lambeth’s Living Wage Action Group who are working on an Action Plan to make the borough a Living Wage Place
