Hallmark Care Homes has invested £1.3m in a number of winter measures to help team members with the cost-of-living crisis.
The family-run care group will now pay all of its team members at or above the new hourly rate set by the Real Living Wage Foundation from 1 December 2022, some five months before its adopted date of 14 May 2023. Salaries will now start from £10.90 per hour in Wales and England (outside London), and £11.95 in London.
The increase will ensure a full-time worker paid the new £10.90 Real Living Wage will receive more than £3,200 in additional wages annually compared to someone on the national minimum wage. For a full-time worker in London this figure rises to more than £5,600.
Hallmark employees earning less than £30,000 per annum will also benefit from a five per cent pay rise, five months early.
In addition to the increase, all 2,300 Hallmark employees will have access to a £250,000 support fund, alongside Westfield Health benefits, a pension, Blue Light Discount Card, and Hallmark Rewards.
Hallmark Care Homes MD Aneurin Brown said: “We have a dedicated workforce who all do an amazing job caring for our residents. It’s only right that we are there for them, too.
“We hope these pay increases will ease the pressure for those currently struggling with the costs of living and that our support fund will encourage more people to ask for help.”
Hallmark’s people and performance director Elizabeth Fairchild added: “We wholeheartedly appreciate there will be bumps in the road and unforeseen costs for many of our team this winter, and we are committed to supporting them.
“In addition to paying the Real Living Wage and launching a £250,000 support fund, we have provided our teams with cost saving resources such as Westfield Health, Hallmark Rewards, and we are funding our team’s Blue Light Discount Card to help with Christmas shopping.”
