CAP's campaign for a Living Wage

About the Living Wage campaign

Why should churches pay a Living Wage?

Support for the campaign

Further reading

About the Living Wage campaign

• CAP calls upon all employers to pay a Living Wage of at least £7.00 an hour. We are asking the churches to take a lead and set an example for other employers.
  
• The rate was last updated in autumn 2007. You can read a statement we made about it at the time.
• CAP's Living Wage campaign is part of the Fair Pay Network.
• The campaign was launched in 2002, based on research carried out by CAP: A Living Wage Church? You can download a summary or the full report from the research.
  

Why should churches pay a Living Wage?

• "Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honour God." (Proverbs 14:31)
  
• This is an area where Christians have a chance to change things and set an example.
• Theologians and activists have laid out the theological justifications for similar living wage campaigns in the US. You can download the articles here:
• "Entitled neighbors: a biblical perspective on living wage" by Walter Brueggeman
• "The Living Wage Movement: It’s About More than Just Wages" by Dick Gillett

• "A movement pushing a 'winnable issue': Church-labor coalitions for living-wage legislation are gaining momentum" by Ethan Flad

Support for the campaign

• The Methodist Church, the Baptist Union and the United Reformed Church all support the campaign or have made commitments to pay a Living Wage to their employees already.
• The Church of England's Faithful Cities report, published in May 2006, called for the introduction of a Living Wage in place of the inadequate National Minimum Wage.
• In December 2007, a coalition of anti-poverty groups in Scotland launched their own Living Wage campaign. They are looking for organisations and individuals to support them. Download their leaflet here.

Further reading

• In 2008, a research project established that £6.88 an hour was the minimum wage required to achieve a standard of living regarded as acceptable by most people in Britain. You can read the report and see their calculations on the Minimum Income Standard website.
• The Mayor of London published figures calculating 2006's Living Wage for London at £7.05 an hour.
• In June 2006, the New Statesman issued an  editorial statement supporting calls for a Living Wage.
• Hard Work is award-winning Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee's graphic account of poverty and low pay in 21st century Britain.
• Jane Willis of the University of London carried out research suggesting what UK campaigners could learn from US living wage campaigns: "Turnaround in Tucson".