We’re celebrating our accreditation by the Living Wage Foundation as a Living Wage Employer.

The Living Wage commitment provides everyone at North Star with the opportunity to receive a minimum hourly wage, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers. This provides an income that is significantly higher than the national minimum wage.

Angela Lockwood, Chief Executive at North Star, said: “Paying the living wage and being accredited is very important to us. We take our role as an employer seriously and all of our staff are paid at least the Living Wage. We have now also set our expectations that our contractors should develop plans to achieve this over the next three years.”

Carole Richardson, Assistant Director of People and Culture at North Star, said: “I’m proud to be part of an organisation that recognises the importance of paying the Living Wage to all of its staff. North Star has also been awarded Gold Level Investors in People and ranked 14th in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Our commitment to paying the Living Wage is another step in establishing ourselves as being a great place to work.”

Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support, with public backing from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Living Wage Foundation Director, Rhys Moore said: “We are delighted to welcome North Star Housing Group to the Living Wage movement as an accredited employer.

“The best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the Living Wage now. The Living Wage is a robust calculation that reflects the real cost of living, rewarding a hard day’s work with a fair day’s pay.

“We have accredited over 1,000 leading employers, including North Star, ranging from independent printers, hairdressers and breweries, to well-known companies such as Nationwide, Aviva and SSE. These businesses recognise that clinging to the national minimum wage is not good for business. Customers expect better than that. ”

As well as providing affordable housing across the North East and North Yorkshire,  North Star  has a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, actively supporting and funding local community projects, in order to help local neighbourhoods to develop and become more resilient.