PAYING the living wage – particularly in the catering sector – can be a challenge, but is still worth doing according to an award-winning employer.

Jonny Kinross, chief executive of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket Community Project, believes the advantages outweigh the disadvantages – and the charity must be doing something right as it has just been voted Social Enterprise of the Year in a sector that is almost 6000 strong.

Initially working with homeless people in the community, the project has expanded to work closely with adults who have support needs or mental health issues.

The charitable function at the core of the project aims to engage some of the most vulnerable people in the community, offering around 30 activities each week, including cooking classes, arts, photography and producing the newsletter. The project achieved Scottish Living Wage accreditation in 2015.

“I have always felt that the minimum wage is not enough,” Kinross said. “I believe passionately that employers shouldn’t be allowed to pay people anything less than what they need to live on.”

While recognising it was the “right thing to do”, implementing the policy was not altogether straightforward, particularly in the cafe which is open seven days a week.

“Our catering manager found it a challenge initially, balancing the sales targets I expected with the cost of the living wage and how this affected the budget in catering which employs the most staff,” Kinross said.

“Catering is a low-pay sector and customers expect competitively priced tea and coffee. Implementing the living wage ripples through the department affecting pay differentials, as you would expect a supervisor with more responsibility to earn more than other staff. We applied pay rises at each level to maintain the pay gap between new starts and supervisors.”

Kinross said paying the living wage can sometimes mean that competitors are able to beat you to contracts based on price. As a result, catering and cleaning sectors are often under pressure to offer services cheaply.

However, Kinross added that one of the benefits of becoming an accredited Scottish Living Wage employer was being able to tender with integrity. “Pioneering the living wage and making that commitment can be a challenge especially in the catering sector– but somebody has to go first. The culture of losing contracts on price is now changing.”

Benefits the charity has enjoyed as a result of living wage accreditation include increased positive social media attention.

“It’s good to be able to say we are a good employer,” Kinross said. “I hope the living wage becomes the norm in my lifetime – the whole of society will benefit. A mass move to the living wage will make everyone’s lives better.”

Graham Burnett, who has been diagnosed with ME and cystic fibrosis, works in the cafe. He earns £8.75 per hour, as opposed to the UK Government’s “national living wage” rate of £7.50.“When you’re on low pay it can be stressful and can affect my health,” Burnett said. “A little extra can go a long way and for me it has had a huge impact.”

“Staff turnover here is low, everyone is very happy. There’s nothing forcing Jonny’s hand to pay the real living wage – it shows leadership. But you don’t have to be a charity or social enterprise to become an accredited living wage employer - everyone should be doing it as a matter of fairness”.