FLEET Alliance has become one of the fleet industry’s first ‘living wage’ employers after guaranteeing that everyone at the company earns at least this minimum standard.

The ‘living wage’ is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually, based on the cost of living in the UK. The current rates are £8.25 per hour outside London and £9.40 inside.

The former is calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, while the latter is calculated by economists at the Greater London Authority,  and both are based on the real cost of living, including food, fuel, childcare, housing and other items.

The ‘living wage’ standard aims to raise people out of poverty and is different to the Government’s national minimum wage for over-25s which went up by 20p to £6.70 an hour on October 1 this year.

The ‘living wage’ campaign was started by parents in East London in 2001, who were frustrated by working in multiple minimum wage jobs and still struggling to make ends meet or spend time with their children.

They formed the charity the Living Wage Foundation, to campaign for fairer wages, and today over 2,000 employers have adopted their ‘living wage’ standard.  As a result of their responsible leadership, says the foundation, these employers have lifted thousands of employees out of the poverty trap.

The foundation also claims that businesses benefit from lower absenteeism, lower staff turnover and improved customer satisfaction from paying the ‘living wage’ and that 70% of adults would consciously shop in favour of a ‘living wage’ accredited retailer, while 87% think companies should pay the ‘living wage’ if they can afford to do so.

Fleet Alliance managing director Martin Brown, said: “The ‘living wage’ is a fundamental aspect of our corporate social resonsibility programme, Fleet Alliance Loves. Ensuring our people are paid appropriately for the hard work they do is a fundamental principle of our business – and we feel this should also be true of all businesses.

“We’ve been passionate about communicating the ‘living wage’ to our suppliers, and we’ve already seen several adopt the initiative – a perfect example of the wider sphere of influence of our Fleet Alliance Loves’ policy.”

Fleet Alliance, which manages around 18,000 vehicles nationally on behalf of corporate clients, has initiated a number of charity and fund-raising initiatives this year through its ‘Fleet Alliance Loves’ CSR programme.

For example, the company recently donated a van free of charge for two years to the Glasgow North East Foodbank so it can transport food to the poor and needy within the local community with greater ease.

It has also been a strong supporter of worthwhile charities and since 2008 its fund-raising efforts have accumulated more than £230,000 for worthy causes.

In one of the most recent, in September this year, Fleet Alliance commercial director David Blackmore ran, kayaked and cycled 168 miles in just three days in support of the cancer charity Maggie’s Centres.

Following the extreme three-day multi-discipline challenge, called Maggie’s X3, colleagues, friends, customers and suppliers donated £13,400 for the charity – £3,400 ahead of target.