Brunelcare, an 80-year-old Bristol-based charity, has announced itself as a Real Living Wage employer and has increased wages to all of its 1,200 dedicated employees.

As of 1 April 2022, all employees who work at Brunelcare will be paid at, or above, the Real Living Wage of £9.90 per hour. The government’s national living wage currently stands at £9.50 per hour.

Set by the Living Wage Foundation, the Real Living Wage has been independently calculated according to the real cost of living. Brunelcare wanted to ensure that they were a Real Living Wage employer by 2022 after discussions started in 2019.

Brunelcare is based in the South West, a region where almost a fifth of all jobs (18.1%) pay less than the real Living Wage – around 424,000 jobs. Despite this, the charity has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.

“I come to work every day because I genuinely love what I do,” said
Becky Smith, care & support worker at Colliers Gardens. “It’s fantastic to feel appreciated in your line of work, and the pay increase to the Real Living Wage makes a real difference. With the cost of living forever increasing, this is going to make a huge difference!”

The introduction of the Real Living Wage at Brunelcare has seen all 1,072 employees receiving a pay increase of at least 3% from April 2022, alongside 762 of those employees receiving a further increase of 6.5%, to get the charity’s lowest-paid employees to the rate of £9.90 per hour.

Katherine Chapman, Living Wage Foundation director, said: “We’re delighted that Brunelcare has joined the movement of almost 10,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.

The pandemic has shone a light on the essential role played by those who care for us and our loved ones. By accrediting as a Living Wage Employer, Brunelcare is leading the way to ensure that rates of pay in the social care sector reflect the vital work that care workers do.”

“I am really pleased to announce that from April 1st, Brunelcare has achieved accreditation as a Living Wage Employer,” said Oona Goldsworthy, chief executive at Brunelcare. “This means that no colleague at Brunelcare will be paid less than the Real Living Wage. Our team has been doing such an integral job, particularly during the last two years of the pandemic, and their pay rates should reflect the vital work they continue to do.

“We believe that it isn’t enough just to say thank you. We will continue to campaign for our social care colleagues to achieve parity of pay and conditions with their colleagues in the NHS.”