Living Wage Employer

What is the Living Wage?

The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate that is voluntarily paid by over 3,600 UK businesses who believe their staff deserve a fair day's pay for a hard day's work.

The Living Wage is set independently by the Living Wage Foundation and is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. In October 2016 we became only the second Premier League club to sign up with the Living Wage Foundation to pay the real Living Wage which meets the cost of living.

Everton Football Club and the Living Wage

Our accreditation was part of a two-year engagement process by the Club involving both internal and external stakeholders. As part of that process we have not only strived to ensure all our staff are paid at least the Living Wage but have also engaged with sub-contractors and external agencies to put in place the same guidelines for staff employed as part of their contracts with us.

This commitment is not only for the Football club but for other parts of the Everton Family too namely; Everton in the Community, Everton Free School Trust, Everton Ladies and Everton Lotteries.

Why did we choose to become a Living Wage employer?

At Everton we are committed to being a first choice employer and becoming Living Wage accredited is a natural step towards that. We worked hard behind the scenes and consulted with our staff and stakeholders; it is extremely important to us that we treat all of our colleagues well and reward people fairly in terms of their pay. Supporting the accredited Living Wage is quite simply the right thing to do; it improves our employees’ quality of life but also benefits our business and society as a whole. 

Becoming accredited is only one element of our ‘People Plan’ which has also seen us review our grading structure and recently we launched a new rewards and recognition programme that introduces greater flexibility to our employee benefits scheme.

Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation welcomed the accreditation, stating: “We are delighted that Everton Football Club have become the second Premier League football club to sign up as a Living Wage employer, ensuring that all their staff  - from caterers to match day staff  - receive a real Living Wage that covers the cost of living. 

“By putting more pounds in the pockets of their staff, Everton are signing up to a win-win scenario that rewards a hard day's work with a fair day's pay. I congratulate Everton and hope other football clubs will take their lead and follow suit.”

For more information on the Living Wage please visit https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage