Celebrating the people who have made an outstanding contribution to the Living Wage movement
Calling all Living Wage Employers – are you a Living Wage Champion?
The Living Wage Champion Awards celebrate the individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to the Living Wage movement. The awards recognise the efforts of those across different sectors - from Health and Social care to Hospitality, and from those championing the Living Wage in their local areas to national businesses – it celebrates the people across our network who have created real change and gone above and beyond to champion the Living Wage and grow the movement.
Each year we welcome hundreds of submissions from our network, we announce a shortlist in April and then the winners are announced at our awards ceremony in July.
The Champion Awards are a special moment in our calendar where we come together to shine a light on the individuals and organisations behind the Living Wage movement, to share their stories and recognise their achievements. It’s more important than ever that we inspire change by highlighting the stories of the people and the organisations across our network who are taking a stand and going the extra mile to drive up employment standards, ensuring work that works for everyone.
The 2025 Living Wage Champion Awards ceremony was held at a ceremony in July in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Last year’s Living Wage Champion Awards
In 2024 the award ceremony was held at the Techniquest Science discovery Centre in Cardiff in recognition of the growth and strength of the Living Wage movement in the region. The event, hosted by BBC Sport presenter and local Cardiff boy Jason Mohammad, was a truly amazing evening and was inspiring to hear about all the incredible work being done across the country by organisations big and small to tackle the pressing issues of in-work and post-work poverty. We loved being able to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the work of so many incredible people who often go without recognition for their important work.
Here’s what some previous winners said about what the awards meant to them...
“Winning a Living Wage Award is an absolute privilege, and it tells us we’re on the right path to changing people’s lives for the better.” - Chris Smallwood, Managing Director of Anchor Removals and winner of Advocate of the Year Award
“I couldn’t be prouder to be part of the first business in Yorkshire to receive the Living Hours accreditation and to win an award for all that hard work feels fantastic. Our team continuously goes above and beyond for us and our customers and it’s only fair that we do the same for them.”- Zixtel Ltd, winner of Living Hours Award
“Winning this award certainly is an inspiring achievement and it sets the tone for what all companies should embrace as the foundation.” - Saimah Aktaar, Apprentice at Newham Council, winner of Public Sector Award
“Winning this award means a whole lot to us. Committing to the real living wage in 2020, right in the middle of so much uncertainty for so many of us, is one of the changes we made that I am most proud of. We think it’s vital that we pay every person in our team the real Living Wage for what they do & we’d like to encourage more folks to do the same because we know it’s the right thing to do.” - Phillip Kalli, Managing Director, Fill Refill, winner of Retail and Hospitality Award
