William Powell AM

Chair of the Petitions Committee

National Assembly for Wales

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff

CF99 1NA

                                                                                                             October 2015

Dear William,

Re:  Petition P-04-397 Living Wage

Thank you for your correspondence regarding our petition on the living wage.

We welcome the update from the Minister for Public Services regarding her invitation to trade unions and Local Authorities to consider the practical issues around adopting the Living Wage. We also welcome the Ministers commitment to focus on the Living Wage Foundation’s Living Wage.

Recent data released by the Office of National Statistics that showed 288,000 jobs in Wales (25%) pay below the living wage. 47% of jobs paid below the living wage across the UK are in the private and not-for profit sector. 43% of jobs paid below the living wage across the UK are part-time. We are concerned this combination of factors is particularly challenging for families who need to balance work with caring for their children.

We note that in the programme for Government Annual Report the Welsh Government commits to continuing to encourage public, private and third sector employers to consider becoming accredited Living Wage employers. Given the likely proportion of parents in Wales working in these sectors and affected by low-pay, we would be particularly interested to know what actions are being taken, and progress being made being made, in these areas.

Yours sincerely

Mary Powell Chandler, Head of Save the Children in Wales