WIREDGOV

Awards body accredited.

***Issued on behalf of the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)***

Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) is pleased to announce that after working in partnership with Poverty Alliance it has today been accredited as a Living Wage employer. 

The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at SAAS receive a minimum hourly wage of £7.85 rising to £8.25 in April, significantly higher than the National Minimum Wage of £6.70. 

The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. The Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. Decisions about what to include in this standard are set by the public; it is a social consensus about what people need to make ends meet.

SAAS Chief Executive, David Wallace said “As an Executive Agency of Scottish Government we are proud to support the Living Wage Foundation to ensure all staff within our agency are treated fairly.”

Employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support, in both the Scottish and Westminster parliaments.

Poverty Alliance Director, Peter Kelly said: “We are delighted to welcome SAAS 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.

“In partnership with The Living Wage Foundation we have accredited a wide range of employers including SSE, Standard Life and Heart of Midlothian FC in Scotland, with others across the UK, ranging from independent printers, bookshops and breweries, to well-known companies such as Nationwide and Aviva. These businesses recognise that clinging to the national minimum wage is not good for business. Customers expect better than that. "

Notes To Editors

SAAS are an agency of the Scottish Government giving financial support to all eligible Scottish students doing a course of higher education in the UK.

For more information visit: www.saas.gov.uk. You can find SAAS Facebook page at www.facebook.com/saasfb or follow SAAS on Twitter @saastweet. 

What SAAS do:

• assess and pay financial support for living costs and tuition fees
• deal with the Students' Allowances Scheme, the Postgraduate Students' Allowances Scheme (PSAS), the Nursing and Midwifery Students Bursary Scheme (NMSB) and applications for student loans
• provide resources and data to the Student Loans Company for the payment of student loans
• distribute Discretionary Funds to Scottish colleges and universities;
• maintain a register of charities that offer educational endowments
• help learners through the Individual Learning Accounts Scotland (ILAS) scheme, which we administer with Skills Development Scotland
• work with the Scottish Government Health Directorate to develop and deliver NHS Bursaries targeted at specific groups (e.g. Dentistry students).