The Living Wage – no strings attached
Little Angel Theatre is a home for puppetry. Since its doors first opened in 1961 the theatre has been dedicated to creating and sharing inspiring stories.
Little Angel Theatre also has its roots in Islington, and is a proud supporter of the London Living Wage. We asked its director, Peta Swindall to tell us about the difference the Living Wage makes to the team.
What’s the best part of being a Living Wage employer and how does it help your business?
We are proud to be paying a fair wage to our employees and the structure, accountability and recognition provided by the Living Wage Foundation was the primary motivation to becoming accredited.
Who in your team has benefited the most from the Living Wage? How has your business benefitted from becoming a Living Wage employer?
Entry level employees, those working on casual contracts and through third party contactors have benefited most. As an employer, it has helped us to retain staff and meant that there are wider funding options available to us for our charitable work.
How easy have you found the process of becoming a Living Wage employer and how did you make the most of the support offered by Islington Council and other local Living Wage Employers?
Once we had made the budgetary commitment to make the change, it was a very smooth process to become a London Living Wage employer. We joined the movement about four years ago and attended sessions run by Livng Wage Foundation, to introduce us to other local employees, and see case studies of organisations who had already made the change. Now we support organisations that are considering becoming accredited.
What would you say to other businesses in Islington that are thinking of becoming Living Wage employers?
As we continue to navigate our way through this pandemic, it is crucial to retain good staff and keep them motivated. As well as ethically being the right choice, those in lower paid, casual jobs have been hard hit and ensuring that these employees are paid appropriately will feed into the overall recovery of the local economy.
