The Case for the Living Wage

The Newcastle Living Wage Action Group

Want to know how local businesses can lead the way to tackle in work poverty in Newcastle? Do you want to find out about practical steps that responsible businesses and organisations can take? Do you want to make sure that the things you buy are from businesses that pay people fairly for their work? If so, come along to our session on the real Living Wage and find out more about work happening in and around Newcastle.   

The real Living Wage is an hourly wage rate, calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, that is based on the actual cost of living. As of April 2025, the rate is £12.60 per hour across the UK and £13.85 per hour in London. It is a voluntary rate, paid by over 16,000 UK employers, which differs from the government's mandatory National Living Wage, which is £12.21 per hour for those aged 21 and over. 

People deserve to be paid fairly for the hours that they work; dictated by the real cost of living. It is also something that we, locally, have the power to influence and change. The Living Wage, is something that puts more money into the pockets of low paid workers in Newcastle and directly addresses the root cause of in-work poverty. 

About the Speakers:

The Newcastle Living Wage Action Group is a partnership of organisations in Newcastle committed to ensuring pay in the city at least meets the Real Living Wage — a voluntary rate calculated to reflect what people need to live on, higher than the legal minimum wage. Its members include large institutions like Newcastle University, Newcastle City Council, Newcastle United FC, Newcastle Hospitals etc., and smaller independent businesses such as Meat:Stack. In November 2022, Newcastle City Council achieved accreditation as a Real Living Wage Council: they committed not only to paying all their own staff at least the Real Living Wage, but to influencing their contractors and suppliers to do the same. Around 114 businesses in the city are now accredited as Real Living Wage Employers, meaning that more than 6,000 workers have received a Living Wage uplift in their pay packets, positively impacting child poverty rates in our city.