• We will work together across the public, private and third sector to create a fairer local economy, where residents can access well paid jobs and identify opportunities to learn new skills. This will include tackling inequality and poverty by encouraging local employers to close the gender pay gap and having an inclusive and diverse workforce. We will make the case for the Local Living Wage being the minimum income for healthy living, and we will set an annual target for increasing the number of employers who pay the Local Living Wage in our Borough and report on it through the council’s performance dashboard.

The next Labour government will work to support high-quality jobs, help people get the skills to take up those jobs and improve pay and working conditions across the economy.

• We will be a role model employer ourselves, ensuring that all council employees and council companies pay the Local Living Wage, and we will recognise the rights of our staff to join a trade union and take collective action in support of pay and conditions. We will maintain our commitment to be a Fair Tax Borough and continue to support Fair Trade.
• We will deliver and be the first to sign our Fair Employment Charter in Cheshire and Warrington, to encourage local employers to demonstrate excellence in relation to pay and benefits, employment contracts, work-life balance, job design and nature of work, relationships at work, employee voice and health and wellbeing. We will also use it to promote inclusivity in contracts so that employers can recognise the challenges of working as a single mother, whilst going through the menopause or whilst being someone’s carer.
• We will support people looking to return to work after adoption or having children to take advantage of their free nursery entitlement and to secure employment. We will look at how our Starting Well service collaborates with other organisations and council services like our business support team, Work Zone and adult education service to enable, support and mentor parents to meet their aspirations and find quality work. We will develop a specific programme to support single parents and their children to address barriers to accessing work, education, skills and training.
• We will review our processes for providing support to businesses in our borough, so we build in opportunities to promote the Local Living Wage, our Fair Employment Charter, the Employers Pledge and environmental sustainability. We will also use these interactions to promote alternative business models that retain local economic wealth as well as providing social value, like community interest companies and co-operatives.