Since 2013, MDXSU has been proud to be an accredited Living Wage employer. The Living Wage is calculated according to the current basic cost of living in the UK and in London, meaning we pay all of our employees a wage they can genuinely live on.

Read below for a statement on our Living Wage committment from Sarah Bennett, MDXSU Vice-President 2013-2015:

It is clearly right that anybody who does a fair day's work deserve a fair day's pay, and we feel that this should apply to our student staff just as much as anybody else.

MDXSU became a Living Wage employer in 2013 because we didn’t want to pay our employees a poverty wage. As many of our MDXSU team are students - who can be time poor and cash poor - it is only right that they get paid correctly for their time. Many students have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet as the student loan does not stretch as far as it used to; by paying the correct wage we can combat this, allowing students more time to focus on their studies, without worrying about surviving financially.

As a student receiving minimum wage in my part-time job in a local bar, I was forced to work more shifts than I could fit around my studies and choose between attending lectures or working. No student should have to make such a stark choice between earning and learning, and it is for that reason that MDXSU becoming a Living Wage employer is one of my proudest moments as an MDXSU officer.

In recognition of our position as an accredited Living Wage employer, MDXSU was invited to attend the Citizens UK Barnet Assembly. Citizens UK is an alliance of local community groups working together for the common good. One of their campaigns is that all employers pay the living wage. At this assembly MDXSU received recognition from the community for being one of the first in the borough of Barnet to pay their employees the living wage.

Receiving this recognition was amazing. Seeing people of different races, profession and faiths coming together to celebrate successes of the community was overwhelming. The Barnet branch of Citizens wants Barnet to become the first Living Wage borough, and we want that to play our part in achieving this. Over the coming months myself and the other elected officers will be working with the university, local employers and Barnet council to champion the benefits of the living wage.