In April 2014, North Star chose to pay employees the real Living Wage, this wage is independently-calculated each year based on what employees and their families need to live. By becoming Living Wage accredited, we ensure that everyone working for us – regardless of whether they are direct employees or third-party contracted staff – receive a minimum hourly wage of £8.45 this rate is significantly higher than the statutory minimum for over 25s of £7.50 per hour introduced in April 2017.

We use a number of external contractors and we are pleased to announce that all third party staff including cleaners, security and maintenance staff have all signed up to pay the real Living Wage. Melissa Hamoudi, our Procurement Officer has ensured that when we have procured new contracts with external contractors that payment of the real Living Wage has been written into the contract and this will be part of any new contracts in the future. We are proud to be part of something that is not only good for our business, it is good for the individuals and society.