The Real Living Wage and why it matters for your suppliers

If you manage property in Scotland, the labour rate your suppliers pay sits underneath almost every invoice you sign. Cleaning, grounds maintenance, security and reactive repairs are people-heavy services, and the wage paid to those people shapes the price, the staff turnover and the reliability you experience on site. The Real Living Wage is the clearest signal of how a supplier treats that cost. Understanding it helps you read a quote properly and avoid the false economy of choosing the cheapest contractor on the list.

What the Real Living Wage actually is

The Real Living Wage is a voluntary hourly rate calculated by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Foundation. It is based on the actual cost of living: housing, food, transport and the rest of a household budget. That makes it different from the government minimum.

It is easy to confuse three separate figures, so here is how they line up:

• The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage are the legal floors set by the UK Government. From April 2025 the statutory rate for workers aged 21 and over is 12.21 pounds per hour. Paying below it is unlawful.
• The Real Living Wage is voluntary and higher. The rate announced in late 2024 is 12.60 pounds per hour across the UK, with a separate higher rate for London.
• The London Living Wage is a third figure that does not apply to Scottish sites but is worth recognising on national contracts.

The Real Living Wage is updated every autumn, usually in late October or early November, with employers given until the following May to implement the new rate. So when you plan budgets for the next year, expect a small uplift each November.

Why it matters for the suppliers you hire

Scotland has been a strong adopter of the scheme. Living Wage Scotland reports thousands of accredited employers, and the public sector here has pushed the standard into procurement for years. When a supplier is accredited, they have committed to paying every directly employed worker, and crucially their regular subcontracted staff such as cleaners, at least the Real Living Wage.

That commitment changes the service you receive in practical ways:

• Lower staff turnover. A cleaner paid a fair rate is more likely to stay, which means consistent faces on your site and less retraining.
• Fewer no-shows and gaps. Underpaid teams churn, and churn is what produces missed visits and inconsistent standards.
• Honest pricing. A supplier who quotes well below the market often funds that gap by squeezing wages, cutting hours on site or both. The work still needs doing, so the shortfall shows up as poor quality later.

For landlords, factors and facilities managers, this is really a risk question. The cheapest cleaning contract can become the most expensive once you count complaints, re-tendering and the management time spent chasing standards.

How to check what your suppliers pay

You do not need to take a sales claim at face value. A few straightforward checks tell you most of what you need to know.

• Ask directly whether the company is a Living Wage accredited employer, and ask for their accreditation. You can verify any employer on the Living Wage Foundation website.
• Read the quote breakdown. If a contractor will not show you the labour rate built into the price, that is a signal in itself. A credible supplier can tell you the hourly rate and the hours allocated to your site.
• Check the maths. Take the monthly price, strip out a reasonable allowance for materials, equipment and overhead, and see what is left for wages against the hours promised. If the implied rate sits near or below the legal minimum, ask how that is sustainable.
• Watch the renewal. When the Real Living Wage rises each November, a fair supplier will explain any uplift clearly rather than absorbing it by quietly reducing site hours.

These same questions apply whether you are appointing a single cleaning contractor or a managed provider handling several trades. At ORVO Group we are happy to set out the labour rates behind a quote, because a price you can understand is a price you can trust.

Building it into your own standards

If you procure services regularly, it is worth writing your expectation down. A short clause in your tender or service specification stating that you expect suppliers to pay at least the Real Living Wage sets the bar before pricing begins. It also protects your reputation, since the standards on your sites reflect on your business, not just the contractor.

For homeowners and smaller landlords the same instinct serves you well. Ask the person quoting how they pay their team. The answer tells you a great deal about whether the work will be done properly and whether the same trusted people will keep coming back.

A simple takeaway

The Real Living Wage is not an abstract policy. It is a useful lens for judging whether a supplier has priced a contract honestly and whether the service will hold up over a full year. Pay attention to it and you will spot the false economies before they cost you.

If you would like help reviewing a current contract or setting fair standards into your next tender, take a look at our guidance service or get in touch and we will talk it through.