CORNWALL has been recognised nationally for its pioneering work to tackle low and insecure pay, thanks to a campaign spearheaded by Truro Foodbank.

The Cornwall Living Wage Place (LWP) campaign took the ‘Campaign of the Year’ Champion Award at the Living Wage Foundation’s annual Living Wage Champion Awards, held in Newcastle yesterday [Thursday, July 3].

Launched in 2023, the campaign aims to increase the number of local employers paying the Real Living Wage – the only rate calculated independently to reflect the cost of living. It began when Truro Foodbank reported a growing number of working individuals relying on emergency food aid.

At that time, 30 per cent of households using the foodbank included someone in work – typically on the government minimum wage or in insecure roles with unpredictable hours and shifts which could be cancelled last minute without pay. Cornwall Council commissioned research found up to 60,000 workers were paid less than the Real Living Wage in 2023, with those in part-time work being particularly affected.

With the support of business leaders and organisations such as Wildanet, Coastline, Cornwall Chamber of Commerce and Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum (VSF), the Cornwall Living Wage Campaign gathered pace. In February Cornwall became the first UK county to be officially recognised as a Living Wage Place, alongside 17 other boroughs and cities.

More than 300 Cornwall employers are now registered as Living Wage employers with the Living Wage Foundation, with more than 15,000 workers guaranteed to receive the Real Living Wage. Cornwall Council committed to pay all directly employed staff the Real Living Wage in 2015, extended in 2019 to include all contracted staff.

Truro Foodbank manager Simon Fann, who chairs the Cornwall LWP Group, said: “Cornwall’s success reflects the strength of community and shared commitment to tackling one of the defining social and economic challenges of our time. This recognition is a tribute to every individual, business, and organisation that joined forces to make a real difference to those struggling on the lowest, most insecure pay.

“Getting to this point marks good progress but we must not be complacent. Last year, for the first time ever in the UK, more employed people than those on benefits felt compelled to turn to loan sharks with resultant massive interest and debt. If this campaign means workers can determine their own financial security, then that is the true achievement.”

Jo Stone, chair of Truro Foodbank Trustees, added: “Winning the joint Local Champions award with Cornwall Council is a national recognition of how essential it is to collaborate. No one organisation can achieve significant change by itself. It is only by working together that agencies can tackle the underlying reasons that lead people to access food banks.”

Truro Foodbank was also named joint winner of the ‘Local Champions’ award with Cornwall Council’s Good Growth Programme. Cornwall Council CEO Kate Kennally said the programme “has put inclusive, fair and sustainable economic development at the heart of how we invest public money, raising pay for hundreds of workers and setting a new standard for local growth funding”.