From fringe issue to the heart of politics: the UK Living Wage campaign marks 25 years of success | Heather Stewart

The Living Wage campaign marks its 25th anniversary with a symbolic victory, as the UK's Department for Business and Trade becomes its latest accredited employer [1]. The campaign, born from community organizing in east London, now ensures thousands of workers receive a wage calculated to meet living costs. The campaign originated within Telco (The East London Citizens Organisation), which later became the nationwide group Citizens UK [1]. A notable early action in 2012 involved cleaners placing letters on the desks of senior ministers to protest low pay [1]. Now, staff including cleaners and security guards at the newly accredited department will be paid a minimum of the London living wage of £14.80 an hour [1]. The current year's rate for the voluntary 'real living wage' outside London is £13.45, as calculated by the Resolution Foundation thinktank [1]. Bernie Harris, an early campaigner, recalls being driven by the link between poverty and ill health observed in the health service [1]. Paul Regan, a Methodist minister involved from the start, said the campaign's central idea emerged from listening to families confronting low wages and high housing costs [1]. "Living wage was not a new term, but this powerful idea became the centrepiece of Citizen UK’s organising," Regan explained [1]. The campaign has historically used personal testimony as a tool, such as when a cleaner confronted HSBC's chair at its 2003 AGM, leading to a significant pay rise and the bank later becoming an accredited employer [1]. The campaign's prominence led then-Chancellor George Osborne to rebrand the statutory minimum as the 'national living wage' in 2015, a move Citizens UK responded to by insisting its higher, voluntary rate remained the 'real' one [1].