Thorntons, one of Scotland’s largest full-service legal and estate agency firms, has become an accredited Living Wage Employer through Living Wage Scotland.

Headquartered in Dundee, the company has 11 offices across Scotland, and employs over 500 people.  Thorntons received its accreditation during Living Wage Week.

Running 11^th– 15^th November, the event is an annual acknowledgement of the Living Wage in the UK, with employers across the country taking part.

Thorntons’ Director of People Shirley Phillips said: “At Thorntons, we have always focussed on creating a positive working environment where everyone is treated fairly. We value all of our colleagues, in every role, which is why we are delighted to be involved with the Living Wage programme.

“We are proud to be a Living Wage accredited employer.  We feel that as well as simply being the right thing to do, we also hope we will inspire other businesses to follow suit.”

Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance said: “The real Living Wage is one of the key tools at our disposal to help make an impact on levels of in-work poverty in Scotland.

“There is a strong business case for paying the real Living Wage; but crucially it allows those in work to become more included in society, better provide for their families, and feel that their value and hard work is recognised by their employer.

“We are delighted to congratulate Thorntons Solicitors on becoming a Living Wage employer. I hope more organisations follow their lead by becoming accredited”.

Speaking about bringing Thorntons onboard, Living Wage Scotland’s manager Jack Evans said: “We are delighted to welcome Thorntons, to the Living Wage movement.

“We are a movement of over 1600 Scottish employers who together want to go further than the government minimum to make sure that all their staff earn enough to live on. We have lots of smaller employers as well as larger and iconic Scottish employers like SSE, Standard Life, Barrs, Mackies, ScotRail, and many more.

“These businesses recognise that the Living Wage accreditation is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Thorntons, join us, because they too believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”