First Church of England diocese agrees to pay the Living Wage!
All employees of the Diocesan Office will now be paid a Living Wage of at least £7.60 an hour. This is the minimum needed to ensure that they and their families can meet their basic needs, and do not live in poverty.
On 19 November 2011, Sheffield Diocesan Synod approved a resolution proposed by Mr Peter Else, which said: “Bearing in mind the disturbing inequality of income in our society and the need to ensure that churches’ own practices reflect Kingdom values, this Synod asks that Diocesan Office should pay the Living Wage to its employees and recommends that churches also, throughout the Diocese, pay the Living Wage (at the level periodically recommended by Church Action on Poverty) to all church employees.”
Niall Cooper, National Coordinator of Church Action on Poverty, commented: “We are delighted that the diocese of Sheffield has committed to pay the Living Wage - following the examples of the Methodist and United Reformed Churches and the Baptist Union. We hope that other Anglican dioceses – and Catholic ones too - will follow suit. The churches must lead the way in ensuring that nobody is paid poverty wages.”
The Living Wage is one element of our campaign to Close the Pay Gap.
