Salmon producer Scottish Sea Farms has voluntarily committed to paying above the UK’s real living wage to help support its employees and their families that are being hit by the rising cost of living.
Higher than UK government’s National Living Wage, the real living wage is independently calculated each year based on how much people need to live on, which in turn helps accredited employers ensure that they pay a fair wage that meets the cost of living. It is also recalculated annually to keep up with rising costs, and is currently set at £9.90 per hour, compared with the National Living Wage of £9.50 for over 23s.
Scottish Sea Farms has committed to paying a minimum £10.40 per hour, representing a 9% increase year-on-year for its lower income employees. This raises the company’s entry level salary to £21,632 before overtime, weekend payments, employer pension contributions and annual bonuses.
Scottish Sea Farms Managing Director, Jim Gallagher, explained that costs are rising at a rate and to a level never seen before across each area of the company’s business. In the first four months of 2022, the cost of fish feed has risen by 29%, with further increases expected throughout the year. It has also seen the price of oxygen rise 32%, oil and diesel increase 48% and electricity jump 53%.
“Of course, household incomes are under increasing pressure too due to the rising price of food, fuel, and energy, among other essentials. As an employer, it presents a very real challenge: how best to help employees withstand the worst of the hopefully short-lived inflationary hikes, whilst also ensuring any increases in pay rates are affordable longer-term.
“By paying the higher rate of £10.40 per hour, we hope to help those on lower incomes and their families who are being hardest hit by the deepening cost of living crisis,” Gallagher said.
Scottish Sea Farms Head of HR, Tracy Bryant-Shaw, added, “Recruiting and retaining good people is key to the economic sustainability of most businesses, but particularly so for companies like ours that operate in more remote communities where workforces can be smaller and competition for employees is fierce.
“We’ve long recognised that safeguarding the long-term viability of our business starts with looking after our people, and these latest enhancements are all part and parcel of our work to become the employer of choice in our communities.”
