Dundee Fairness Commission 29 September 2015 KEY CAMPAIGNS TO ADDRESS POVERTY – LIVING WAGES & ANTI-STIGMA

Key Anti-Poverty Campaigns The Scottish Living Wage Campaign & Living Wage Accreditation Tackling Stigma with the Stick Your Labels Campaign

S COTTISH L IVING W AGE C AMPAIGN  Established in 2007 by Poverty Alliance, STUC & Church of Scotland  Key role is in raising awareness about in-work poverty  SLWC is focused on working with grassroots community campaigns for the LW. Currently supporting six local groups  Developing an awareness raising program for young people in schools

S COTTISH L IVING W AGE A CCREDITATION I NITIATIVE  SLWAI is a partnership with the Living Wage Foundation, launched in early  Accreditation was launched in The aim is to recognise those employers in the private, public & voluntary sectors that pay the Living Wage  Accreditation has brought coherence to the Living Wage movement across the UK

Living Wage Accreditation  Target is to accredit 500 employers by March Currently 335 accredited.  More than 60% of accredited employers are in the private sector. Around 17% in the public sector  More than 70% employ less than 50 people  More than 1,800 employers across the Uk have signed up

T HE I MPORTANCE OF A CCREDITATION  Accreditation now seen as a key way of demonstrating support of action to address in-work poverty  It is based on an independently established methodology for calculating an adequate wage  It has become a key way to engage the private sector in anti-poverty discussions  Living Wage employers in the private & public sectors can play a leadership role in communities and sectors

Why Attitudes to Poverty Matter Evidence suggests that public attitudes to poverty have hardened in recent years However, it is important to emphasise that public attitudes are often inconsistent or contradictory If we are to implement policy change, then we need greater levels of public support for action The experience of stigma can have a negative impact on service users

Campaigning to Change Attitudes The Stick Your Labels Campaign was established in 2010 Aim was to raise awareness regarding the impact of stigma on people living on low incomes Party leaders signed up to a series of ‘stigma statements’, myth busting materials were produced, and a short film New phase began in May 2015 – focused on the Organisational Challenge

SYL – the Organisational Pledges Poverty is not inevitable: it is a problem of political choices, it is neither natural nor acceptable. We all have a role to play in addressing poverty: We will set out our contribution to tackling poverty in Scotland. Attitudes matter: How we talk about poverty and how we portray it can stigmatise and harm people: We will never use language that may stigmatise people experiencing poverty. Actions change attitudes: To change beliefs about poverty requires action across our whole society: We will develop actions that help address negative attitudes towards people experiencing poverty.

Campaigning to Change Attitudes The focus is on encouraging organisations to think about attitudes, and to be public about the approach to tackling poverty A range of voluntary organisations have signed the pledges. Dundee CC was the first LA to commit We will be promoting the campaign as part of our work around Challenge Poverty Week in October

Contacts Scottish Living Wage Accreditation: Julie McGahan, Living Wage Programme manager (Scotland) Stick Your Labels Campaign: Carla McCormack, Policy and Parliamentary Officer,