Women's Aid Armagh Down Becomes Accredited

The organisation’s Support Service helps women maintain and sustain their homes, while dealing with the trauma experienced through domestic/ sexual abuse and complex needs specific to their lived experience. The organisation employs 38 full time and part time staff along with a team of experienced volunteers.

Motivation for Living Wage Accreditation

We chose to accredit as a Living Wage Employer because we believe fair pay is fundamental to dignity, wellbeing and equality.  Staff in Women’s Aid Armagh Down provide a highly specialist support service which requires highly skilled, empathic and resilient staff.  Until recently, staff were paid at minimum wage level due to the deficit in funding streams. 

Two years ago, the senior management team brought this issue to the Board and through working together, the Board took the decision to introduce salary scales that would demonstrate to the staff, the Board’s commitment to the work they undertake and the considerable value they hold of the staff’s contribution to the work of the organisation and its success. We believe that by striving to pay our staff a real Living Wage, we are part of the broader effort to tackle in-work poverty and honour our staff’s demanding and vital roles in supporting women, children and young people at their point of need.   

Implementation Process

The process was very straightforward. Just had to click on a link that was provided and complete an application. We had a meeting to run through the application and the information came through later that day – a quick and efficient process!

We increased the hourly rate of three part time members of staff to match the living wage. We also spoke with our cleaning agency and got an assurance from them that the cleaners who worked in our premises part time would get a small increase which would bring them in line with the requirements.

Anticipated Benefits

As an organisation committed to safety, dignity and justice for women and child survivors, it is vital we reflect those principles in how we treat our staff. The real Living Wage enables us to align our employment practices with the values we promote in our direct work with women, children and young people.  

An immediate benefit was the improvement in staff moral and creating a positive working environment where staff felt valued motivated and engaged in the work of WAAD.  A positive impact will be the reduction of financial pressures on staff and promote financial stability for all employees.   This will hopefully result in reduced absenteeism and potential burnout and improve staff retention and recruitment and thereby reducing staff turnover. 

Becoming a real Living Wage organisation publicly demonstrates to our funders, stakeholders and general community, our commitment to fairness and our responsibility as employers in that we value our staff which will make us a more attractive prospective employer when we recruit.

"As the Chief Executive Officer of WAAD, I and the senior team hope that our action of becoming a real Living Wage employer will positively demonstrate that the work undertaken by the voluntary and community sector is valued.  We see first-hand the life saving and life changing impact of our staff and volunteers every day and we recognise this work and its value.  We hope to inspire other organisations in the third sector to become Living Wage employers also.  We believe fair pay is not a luxury, it is a necessity if we wish to ensure a highly skilled workforce that can continue to support women, children and young people who have experienced domestic & sexual abuse."

• Eileen Murphy (CEO)