Teesside University supports living wage for all staff

Teesside University has pledged to ensure that all members of its staff are paid the living wage.

The University is renowned in the region as an organisation that values its workforce and it is one of only five UK universities to be accredited with the Investors in People Gold Award – the highest Investors in People accolade.

Currently the minimum wage in the UK is £6.31 for over 21s. The living wage has been calculated at £7.65 an hour. Teesside University has introduced a supplement to raise the level of its lowest grade pay point to ensure its staff receive the £7.65 living wage.

Teesside University employs more than 2,300 staff, 162 of which are on the first salary scale and will now receive £7.65. The living wage is seen as the level of income needed to provide an acceptable standard of living in Britain to ensure good health, adequate child development and social inclusion.

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald has mounted a campaign to make Middlesbrough a living wage town and the University is delighted to support this.

Teesside won University of the Year in 2009/10, the first modern university ever to do so and this year was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for world-class excellence in education.

Malcolm Page, Chief Operating Officer, said: 'We could not win accolades like this if it were not for the dedicated staff who work at Teesside University. Every member of staff plays a vital part in making the institution the success it is.

'We value the work of all of our staff enormously and the living wage level is important for living standards, particularly in the context of the continued pressure on the cost of living.”'

---