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SDP celebrates Living Wage Scotland Week with supplier success

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It's Living Wage Scotland Week! The real Living Wage movement is celebrated annually, and this year The Poverty Alliance organised for the dates of 15-19 November 2021. The week begins with the new rate announcement and continues with networking events, testimony from employers and workers and much more.

What is the real Living Wage?

The real Living Wage is an independently calculated rate based on the cost of living and is paid voluntarily by employers. More can be found on the Scottish Living Wage website.

What do I need to do to become accredited?

Businesses that want to bid for public sector contracts are encouraged to become Living Wage accredited. The requirements to become accredited include:

  • Pay all directly employed staff aged 18 and over the real Living Wage;

  • Pay or have a plan in place to pay contracted workers the real Living Wage; and

  • Complete the contact form on the Scottish Living Wage website to start the application process.

Why is paying the real Living Wage important to buyers and suppliers in the public sector?

During Meet the Buyer North 2021, the answer to this question was put into perspective during a presentation by Stuart Calderwood, Community Benefits & Sustainable Procurement Manager, Aberdeenshire, City and Highland Councils, and Emily Stone, Climate and Sustainability Business Development Manager, Edinburgh Science, followed by a live Question and Answer panel that also included Lynn Anderson, Manager Living Wage Scotland and Gillian Cameron, SDP Programme Manager.

Are there any examples of Living Wage accredited businesses winning public sector contracts?

There are 17,972 Scottish SMEs, supported businesses and third sector organisations registered with the Supplier Development Programme, and 560 are Living Wage accredited. Of these, in the last three years to August 2021, 189 of those suppliers won 882 contract award notices through Public Contracts Scotland (PCS), Scotland’s national advertising portal for public sector contracts. Additionally, 53 of those suppliers won Quick Quotes in the same period.

SDP has lots of case studies that feature supplier successes in public sector tendering after engaging with the programme's free training and resources. Dundee Science Centre, Concept Northern and Remarkable are three Scottish small businesses that are Living Wage accredited and have won public sector contracts, so be sure to read about their successes!

Can paying the real Living Wage help my business win more points in tenders?

Yes! The Supplier Development Programme has embedded information and resources within all of our free courses on Fair Work, which includes the real Living Wage. If you're logged into the SDP website, you can also view examples of "good" Fair Work tender responses on this page in the Fair Work section from suppliers that may be of help when writing a tender. Check out SDP's tender training offer, and register to help your business win every point when writing bids!

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