More than 700 employees across the A-Plant business will receive salary increases after the Warrington-headquartered equipment hire company agreed to become an accredited Real Living Wage employer.
A-Plant, part of FTSE 100-listed company Ashtead Group, has 165 service centres across the UK and more than 3,500 employees in total.
The Real Living Wage is a voluntarily paid minimum hourly rate of pay that is significantly higher than the minimum wage. The current Real Living Wage is £9.75 for those working in London and £8.45 per hour for those with work bases outside London.
Sat Dhaiwal, chief executive of A-Plant, said: "We value our colleagues and we truly believe that a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay.
"We are delighted to be leading the equipment rental industry by voluntarily paying a Real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government standard. We feel it is extremely important to take care of our colleagues and in recent months and years, we have made great strides forward in our aim to become the employer of choice in our sector.
"We will be also be working with our suppliers to see how they can make a stand and adopt the Real Living Wage."
Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, added: "We are delighted to welcome A-Plant to the growing movement of accredited Living Wage employers who are voluntarily going further than the statutory minimums to ensure their employees can earn a wage, which is enough to live on.
"Living Wage employers report a more motivated and productive workforce; paying the Real Living Wage is both good for business and good for society.
"As the first major equipment rental company to accredit as a Living Wage employer A-Plant, is showing great leadership in the sector, and we hope their commitment will encourage other great businesses and organisations to go above and beyond the government minimum."
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