LARGEST CARE HOME IN THE BORDERS, EMPLOYING OVER 140 PEOPLE, PAYING THE REAL LIVING WAGE!
The Scottish Borders is a region with one of the highest proportions of non-Living Wage jobs in the country with over 21% of jobs paying less than the real Living Wage. Despite this, QME Care has committed to pay the real Living Wage and deliver a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
The Living Wage helps to tackle poverty, by putting more money into the pockets of the UK’s lowest paid workers. The real Living Wage is an independently calculated rate based on the cost of living and is paid voluntarily by employers. This is different to the UK government’s National Living Wage scheme, which is not calculated according to what employees need to live on.
QME Care is committed to ensuring that each of their employees earn enough to afford basics such as housing, childcare, transport, and heating costs that support a decent standard of living. Since 2011 the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 160,000 people and put over £800m extra into the pockets of low paid workers.
The UK is currently facing a national crisis in the Care Sector with employees leaving to go and work in other sectors, this is negatively impacting on the strain of the vital needs of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
QME Care hopes that by committing to being a real living wage employer, it shows how vital the staff are and how much they value them.
Kelly Brown, Chief Executive at QME Care says “We want our employees to feel valued and to earn a wage that reflects living costs. We want to help to work towards lifting families out of poverty and provide workers with enough to get by so that local people can enjoy higher levels of disposable income, and local businesses can benefit from increased spending.”