Levy UK, the UK’s leading sports and leisure business, is marking Real Living Wage week with the announcement that it will be paying all its UK employees – including variable hours workers – the Real Living Wage or above from 1 January 2023.

Levy employs over a thousand full-time workers and has a 14,500 strong variable hour workforce to support their clients from sports stadia, arenas and conference centres across the country. Levy has worked closely with clients to move to this positive position, many of which are also RLW employers, such as Chelsea Football Club and Edgbaston.

The Real Living Wage Foundation announced in September that the new Living Wages rates would increase by 10.1% rise to the UK rate and an 8.1% rise to reflect current inflation. The new Real Living Wage rate is £10.90, and the London Living Wage rate will rise to £11.95.

Levy is part of food services giant Compass Group UK & Ireland, which became a Real Living Wage accredited service provider in November 2022. Over the past two years Compass has worked with over 300 clients to move to RLW. In 2022, this resulted in over 60% of employees being paid RLW and above. Compass Group UK & Ireland announced it was paying the new Real Living Wage uplift to those employees it directly employs from 1 November. The business is currently supporting clients to move to the new rates over the coming months.

Jon Davies, Managing Director, Levy UK said: “Our people are the lifeblood of our business, so paying a fair wage, especially in light of the cost-of-living crisis, is absolutely the right thing to do. We have been working in partnership with our clients over the past two years to move to the position of paying 100% of our workers in the UK the Real Living Wage. We value and care for our people and know that paying the Real Living Wage can make a big difference, allowing them to enjoy a more balanced life.”

Katherine Chapman, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: "As the cost of living continues to rise, it's fantastic to see Levy's leadership and hard-work over the past two years in moving to pay all employees a real Living Wage. The benefits the Living Wage brings to workers and business alike and has never been more important.”

Earlier this year, Compass Group announced its Social Promise, where through its “Mission to a Million” campaign it is looking to support a million people with opportunities through from both within and outside the organisation, by 2030. It aims to enhance opportunities and change lives through job creation, education, training, community and charitable engagement.  A key part of this activity is its commitment to the Real Living Wage.