Dudley firm signs up to Real Living Wage
A DUDLEY business which has been growing strongly despite the pandemic decided it should ‘give something back’ – so it signed up to pay the Real Living Wage to staff.
Frameclad, based on the Pensnett Trading Estate in Kingswinford, aims to hit the £10m a year turnover target this year as business has grown steadily since it was founded in 2009.
The company design, manufacture and supply light gauge steel for the construction industry, often pre-assembled for house builders across the country.
It’s one of the essential industries that has carried on throughout the pandemic, and Frameclad puts its most recent success down to how management and staff came up with new ways of working to ensure the factory was as safe and Covid-resistant as it could be.
It meant continuing to supply customers was seamless when the pandemic was causing widespread disruption.
After discussions within the business, the firm decided that it should sign up to the Real Living Wage initiative.
Managing Director Paul Winwood said: “ The last twelve months have been very hard for everyone. At Frameclad we are fortunate that our order books have increased in size even throughout these unprecedented times.
"We are proud to have maintained supplies and met growing demand. We could not do this without the dedicated and valued work force that we have and by signing up to The Real Living Wage we are hoping that we are demonstrating the value we place on every member of the work force and saying a continuous thank you to them and their families.”
Research suggests there were 4.2 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2018-19 – nine children in every classroom of 30.
And work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. Nearly 3 in every four children growing up in poverty live in a household where at least one person works, according to the Child Poverty Action Group.
The Real Living Wage is a voluntary initiative and so far around 7,000 companies across the country have signed up, paying about 250,000 workers.
It is not to be confused with the government’s Living Wage scheme or the Minimum Wage.
The Real Living Wage pays £9.50 an hour, compared to £8.91 (from April 1 this year) to those 23 or older under the government Living Wage.
The Minimum Wage varies from £4.30 for an apprentice to £8.36 for anyone aged 21 or 22 (again, from April 1).
