The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate based on the cost of living. It is voluntarily paid by UK businesses who believe their staff deserve a wage that meets everyday needs. Providing employees with a wage based on living costs can help provide security and stability for workers. Please find more information about the real Living Wage on the Living Wage Foundation website.
Become a Living Wage employer
Being a real Living Wage accredited employer can bring advantages to you as a business and to your staff. Paying the real Living Wage can enhance your reputation, encourage higher staff retention and productivity, make you more attractive as an employer to potential staff and boost your bids for tenders.
You may already be paying your staff the real Living Wage, so get recognised and join the growing network of Living Wage businesses across Bristol and the West of England.
The Bristol Living Wage City initiative is led by a group of employers in the city who are working to reduce in-work poverty. In 2019, the group was formally recognised and given accreditation by the Living Wage Foundation for its efforts to make Bristol a Living Wage City. Bristol was one of the first UK cities to receive this acknowledgement.
In the first three years of the Bristol Living Wage City initiative (Dec 2019 to Dec 2022) the group has:
Uplifted almost 4,000 people on to the real Living Wage
Doubled the number of accredited Living Wage employers in Bristol to around 400, 220 of which are headquartered in the city
Increased the number of people working for real Living Wage accredited employers to 43,000
In January 2023, the group set new targets to be achieved by December 2025. These are to:
Increase the numbers of real Living Wage accredited employers headquartered in Bristol by a further 120
Uplift the wages of 1,200 more employees in Bristol to at least the real Living Wage
Ensure 12,000 additional people are working for real Living Wage accredited employers in the city.
Accredited Living Wage employers
The list of accredited Bristol Living Wage employers is on the Living Wage Foundation website.
The list can be filtered by sector, locally or nationally.
To help you discover and support some of Bristol’s Living Wage employers, you can take the Living Wage trail – a guide to 10 popular local businesses across Bristol.
Looking for information about Visit West membership? You can find out more about membership, apply to become a member, and make the most of your membership in this section.
Browse some of these useful links for Business support in Bath, Bristol and the west of England.
