Joseph Rowntree Foundation: In-work poverty – why fair pay and secure hours matter

7th February, 2025

Last week, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) launched it’s yearly flagship report on the nature of poverty in the UK. It’s unacceptable that 14.3 million people are living in poverty in the UK, including 4.3 million children. While being in work is a protective factor against being in poverty, two-thirds of working-age adults in poverty are in a household where at least one adult works. Work alone is not a route out of poverty – the quality of that work really matters.   

The impact of low pay and insecure work

The risk of experiencing poverty depends on the type of job you do, as rates of poverty vary according to different sectors. While the average poverty rate for workers is 12% across all employment sectors, accommodation and food services (23%), administrative and support service activities (21%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (21%) all have significantly higher poverty rates than the average.  

The Work Foundation have estimated that 6.8 million people in the UK were in severely insecure work in 2023 and that work is becoming less secure. Insecure work means not knowing what you’ll be paid week to week or when you will be working, making it impossible to plan ahead and making it much harder to budget for childcare or transport. Insecure work is often compounded by a low hourly rate, in some cases even falling below the National Living Wage, as some employers still evade enforcement.  

Business, government and trade unions all have a role to play in delivering good jobs which have fair pay and secure and predictable hours. Good jobs must be an essential part of doing business. Good businesses, doing the right thing, need a level playing field.  

Raising the bar: Living Wage Foundation

Delivery on fair pay is an essential part of tackling in-work poverty. The Living Wage movement is delivering a pay rise for nearly half a million employees across the country, with employers accrediting with it committing to pay £12.60 an hour outside London and £13.35 in London. The real Living Wage calculation is rooted in the Minimum Income Standard, a measure of the minimum socially acceptable income standard people need. 15,000 employers are now accredited, across a wide range of sectors, doing the right thing by their workers and demonstrating that good business does not mean low pay. Crucially, Living Wage accreditation also includes business supply chains. For some businesses, it is people in their supply chains such as cleaners or caterers who are on the lowest pay. Being a good business involves not just thinking about pay for your direct employees but those that are outsourced too.  New research from JRF, due to be published this spring, will highlight the experiences of the UK’s outsourced workers – including problems with job quality, and the importance of targeting “good work” interventions at outsourced work. 

As well as fair pay, workers need fair hours too – meaning hours that offer essential security and predictability. More secure work means a right to a contract which reflects your typical working hours, getting good notice of shifts so you can budget and make those plans for your life outside work, and being paid even if shifts are cancelled at the last minute – so you’re not left out of pocket due to scheduling changes. Over 200 employers are now going further than the Living Wage Foundation accreditation and committing to pay Living Hours accreditation too.  

Government’s role in tackling insecure work

Alongside business, the government has a fundamental role to play in driving up employment standards including on pay and hours. The new Employment Rights Bill explicitly aims to tackle one-sided flexibility which underpins insecure work. New rights Government intends to implement include introducing guaranteed hours contracts, reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for short-notice cancellation of shifts. These new obligations on employers will hopefully level the playing field for businesses already doing the right thing and mean more security for workers – although many workers will remain at risk in low-paid, insecure self-employed jobs.  

The new uplift to the National Living Wage will also see a welcome increase in pay for nearly 3 million of the lowest-paid workers. These new policies from the world of work are really important for change, but we need to remember that working households in poverty also require more support via the social security system and access to good quality, affordable housing too.  

Fair pay and hours: a pillar of responsible business

Fair Pay and Hours for workers are a fundamental foundation for the responsible business practice celebrated in Good Business Charter’s Good Business Fortnight and it’s really positive to be able to recognise the role business and all employers play in tackling poverty.  

For more guidance on supporting employees through the cost-of-living crisis, check out JRF’s employer guide: Employers and the cost of living | Joseph Rowntree Foundation