Belsize Village, London, UK: Last night, Penrose Care was announced as a winner of the Living Wage Champion Awards 2018 award for Industry Leadership.
The 2018 Living Wage Champion Awards celebrate individuals and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the Living Wage movement, and are proudly sponsored by Aviva, KPMG and the City of London Corporation.
In 2012 Penrose Care became one of the first four Living Wage accredited care homes. In an industry that has often struggled with low pay, Penrose Care used the real Living Wage as the foundation on which to roll out further outstanding labour standards; including guaranteed weekly hours, payment for travel time, private medical insurance and an occupational sick-pay scheme. These standards have set Penrose apart from its peers, and highlighted the possibility of decent pay and conditions within the care sector.
One of three winners of the Industry Leadership Award, including The Haven Wolverhampton and Unlimited Potential, Penrose Care were commended for their promotion of the Living Wage. Other shortlisted organisations included Curzon Cinemas and Creature.
Robert Stephenson-Padron, managing director of Penrose Care, said:
“Since our founding, Penrose Care has been the UK’s pioneer of the ethical provision of home care. The real Living Wage has been the cornerstone of our ethical framework as it is one of the most credible signs to all our stakeholders that Penrose Care is a genuinely caring organisation that respects the dignity of the human person – client, worker, or any other. We are greatly humbled in receiving the Industry Leadership Award from the Living Wage Foundation. The Living Wage Champion Award will further Penrose Care’s confidence in leading a caring organisation which engenders trust and honesty, two of the qualities needed to provide excellent care consistently.”
Robert Stephenson-Padron accepts the 2018 Living Wage Champion Industry Leadership Award on Penrose Care’s behalf. Looking on, Stuart Wright, Chair of the Living Wage Foundation. Alicia Lerche, support worker; and Olga García Gómez, deputy care manager at Penrose Care, and event host.
Olga García Gómez, who started at Penrose Care in 2014 as a support worker and now is a deputy manager, said:
“I am grateful to be part of Penrose Care, a company that takes great care of their staff and clients. The company feels more like a family and whereby you always feel supported due to a variety of ethical working conditions including the London Living Wage, and having available a manager 24/7. In addition to all this, you can develop your professional career at Penrose Care as I have. For someone coming from abroad, all these factors are very important in a job.”
Alicia Lerche, home care support worker; Olga García Gómez, deputy manager; and Robert Stephenson-Padron, managing director of Penrose Care after receiving the 2018 Living Wage Champion award.
Tess Lanning, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said:
“Congratulations to Penrose Care on becoming a Living Wage Champion award winner. Employers like Penrose Care are leading the way in placing dignity and respect at the heart of their organisation. Over 4,200 employers have now signed up to the movement, and their leadership is making a profound difference to the lives of families and communities across the UK. Penrose Care’s work in celebrating and championing the Living Wage has been vital to its success.”
The Living Wage is an hourly pay rate set independently, updated annually, and calculated according to the basic cost of living. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis.
The awards were judged by an independent panel of business and community leaders.
Left to right: Neil Jameson CBE, founder and executive director of Citizens UK; Robert Stephenson-Padron, Penrose Care managing director; Alicia Lerche, home care support worker of Penrose Care; Olga García Gómez, deputy manager of Penrose Care; and Dr Kaneez Shaid MBE, Chair of Trustees of Citizens UK at the Living Wage Champion Awards 2018 at Guildhall, London.
Media Contact
John Hood – Media Manager: John.Hood@LivingWage.org.uk
Mobile: 07507 173649 Landline 0208 017 2936
About the real Living Wage
The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to what people need to make ends meet. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that choose to take a stand by ensuring their staff earn a wage that meets the costs and pressures they face in their everyday lives.
The UK Living Wage is currently £8.75 per hour. There is a separate London Living Wage rate of £10.20 per hour to reflect the higher costs of transport, childcare and housing in the capital. These figures are calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission, based on the best available evidence on living standards in London and the UK.
The Living Wage Foundation is the organisation at the heart of the movement of businesses, organisations and individuals who campaign for the simple idea that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. We recognise and celebrate the leadership shown by responsible employers who voluntarily choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum. There are currently over 4,200 accredited employers.
What’s the difference between the real Living Wage and the Government’s national living wage?
In April 2016 the government introduced a higher minimum wage rate for all staff over 25 years of age inspired by the Living Wage campaign – even calling it the ‘national living wage’.
However, the government’s ‘national living wage’ is not calculated according to what employees and their families need to live. Instead, it is based on a target to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020. Under current forecasts this means a rise to less than £9 per hour by 2020. For under 25s, the minimum wage rates also take into account affordability for employers.
The real Living Wage rates are higher because they are independently-calculated based on what people need to get by. That’s why the Living Wage Foundation encourages all employers that can afford to do so to ensure their employees earn a wage that meets the costs of living, not just the government minimum.
The judges for the 2018 Living Wage Champion Awards were:
- Dr Kaneez Shaid MBE, Campaigner and Chair of the Citizens UK Board of Trustees
- Rosie Gillham, Living Wage employee and campaigner
- Yvonne Roberts, freelance journalist, writer and broadcaster, The Observer
- Jane Gratton, Head of Business Environment and Skills Policy at British Chambers of Commerce
- Matt Sparkes, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Linklaters LLP
- Tess Lanning, Director of the Living Wage Foundation
About Penrose Care
Penrose Care is an ethical provider of home care services London, United Kingdom to adults with disabilities and elderly persons, including those with dementia. The company operates upon a fundamental belief that to promote a caring workforce, the organisation itself must be caring. As the pioneer of ethics in home care in the UK, Penrose Care in 2012 became one of the first four providers in the country to become an Accredited Living Wage Employer and in 2013 the first independent sector provider to be compliant with Citizens UK’s landmark Social Care Charter. Penrose Care was named the Living Wage Champion for the London region in 2016 by the Living Wage Foundation.
Penrose Care’s ethical approach promotes higher quality social care workers and low staff turnover which in turn results in excellent care. Penrose Care is headquartered in Belsize Village, north London and was founded by Robert Stephenson-Padron, a healthcare research analyst, and Dr. Matthew Knight, a hospital physician.
2018 Living Wage Champions Family Photo.