Invited:

·         Emma Kosmin, Living Wage Foundation (slides included)

·         Paul Medley, Chair of Trustees, Oxford Food Bank

·         Fred Hanna, Unite the Union

·         Ian Woodlands, Unite the Union

·         Mish Tullar, Head of Comms, OCC

·         Justin Thorne, HR Resourcing Business Partner, OCC

An open discussion on implementing the Oxford Living Wage across the city in which the Review Group may wish to explore the following lines of inquiry:

-       What are the impacts of low pay on individuals and communities in the city; how widespread is this issue and in which sectors?

-       What are the barriers to large and small employers in the city adopting a living wage policy?

-       Would a Kitemarking system for the ‘Oxford Living Wage’ be workable?

-       Is the Oxford Living Wage the best and most appropriate living wage rate for the Council to pay and promote more widely?

-       What more could the Council do to promote the payment of a living wage and make it unacceptable for other employers in the city to not do so?

-       Are there opportunities to strengthen encouragement to contractors and sub-contractors to pay a living wage?  If not, what are the barriers? If so, what are the risks?

-       What more could the Council do to publicise a living wage through publicity and communications such as Your Oxford, etc.?

The Council’s HR Resourcing Business Partner said that following the Council motion the lowest pay grades had been removed to ensure that no employees had been paid below the Oxford Living Wage (OLW).  The lowest salary was currently equivalent to an hourly rate of £9.49 and this would rise to £9.79 from April 2018.  It was difficult to enforce the payment of the Oxford Living Wage by contractors.  In the case of Fusion Lifestyle it had not been included as a contractual obligation for them to pay the OLW but the Council picked up the difference.  The Council had no zero hours contracts but did have some casual contracts e.g. for seasonal youth engagement work, and there was no obligation on these workers to accept the hours offered.  These employees are paid at least the equivalent of the OLW and after 13 weeks they have a right to be paid the equivalent of permanent staff.

The Corporate Policy, Partnership and Communications Manager added that the Council had insisted on the payment of the OLW through large projects such as the Westgate redevelopment and the Barton joint venture.  Living Wage Week presented a clear opportunity for the Council to state what it does and promote the OLW.   Any wider campaigning would need to be driven by the Council’s leadership but it would be possible, although resource intensive, to get the message out there by proactively targeting employers.  A powerful campaign was possible but there was a need to be thoughtful and sensitive to the Council’s partners.  There was no register of employers who pay the OLW.  If Oxford decided to move to the London Living Wage it would still be an outlier and this would be a confusing message to get across to employers from a communications perspective.

In discussion the Review Group also noted that:

·         Local authorities have no levers to require contractors to pay a living wage to staff who aren’t engaged on their contracts.

·         One local authority has produced an ethical charter, which is aspirational in nature.

·         One local authority has hired a part time officer to promote the Living Wage and co-ordinate a leadership group.

·         Some employers have separate minimum standards agreements with their contractors but this is not always an easy fit for sectors such as social care where many workers are self-employed.

·         Unite would look at any campaign proposal because addressing low pay is central to their aims; the Regional Officer said he would take responsibility for pushing a living wage in Oxford if the Council also committed some resource.

·         Some charities may support a campaign but others would be wary of the political dimensions of promoting a living wage.

·         The reopening of the Westgate Shopping Centre is creating upward pressure on wages as retailers compete to attract employees.

Open discussion on implementing the Oxford Living Wage across Oxford.

The Review Group thought there would be some merit is focusing promotion of the OLW on employers whose operations are focused on Oxford as they are more likely to have flexibility to vary wage rates than employers who operate across the country.

The Review Group also expressed support for an Oxford Living Wage logo that had the authority of the Council behind it.  It was suggested that the Council could consider allocating funding to get such a scheme off the ground.