Ovo said it already paid the living wage of £7.85 an hour to direct employees, but today’s announcement “raised the bar” to extend that commitment to contractors too.
Ovo’s chief people officer Kim Atherton said: “We are proud to be part of a growing number of businesses that recognise the living wage as the minimum remuneration standard.”
Living Wage Foundation’s director Rhys Moore said: “The Living Wage is now a truly UK wide movement and recognised as a mark of responsible business.”
The Living Wage is set at a level to ensure staff can cover their basic cost of living including housing, bills, food and work travel, rather than the national minimum wage of £6.50 per hour.
SSE became the first of the big six energy companies to guarantee all its employees the living wage in September 2013, a move that made SSE the biggest British company by market capitalisation to introduce the living wage and one of only three in the FTSE 100 at the time.
Earlier this year Yorkshire Water and its parent company The Kelda Group also received accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation after it committed to pay all eligible employees working at the company – including third-party contractors and suppliers.