Your article (‘It’s sad’: is the UK real living wage under threat as Capita and BrewDog pull out?, 6 February) highlighted that both Capita and BrewDog are withdrawing from the real living wage scheme and queried if the underlying principle is sustainable.
The real living wage calculates the minimum that staff require to live on when working full-time. When a large employer refuses to pay its staff the real living wage, they are prioritising management bonuses and shareholder dividends over paying their staff enough to live on. Often this also leads to the taxpayer picking up the tab for the difference through tax credits. A better question might be why big businesses consider this an acceptable way to behave.
