BrewDog slammed for abandoning real living wage pledge for employees

The brewing giant, which was founded in Fraserburgh, has revealed plans to no longer pay new employees a real living wage

BrewDog has informed employees that it will no longer be a real living wage employer.

The pledge had, up until now, been described as one of the “key cornerstones” of the business. Writing to staff, the firm blamed a £24 million operating loss last year for the decision.

The move means new employees will be paid the UK Government national minimum wage of £11.44 per hour from April. This is below the £12 real living wage.

BrewDog will no longer be a real living wage employer from April 2024

Bryan Simpson, hospitality organiser of union Unite, said: "To withdraw the real living wage now, during the most acute cost-of-living crisis in a generation, is outrageous. We are already working with our BrewDog members across the country to collectively challenge this awful decision and force the senior management of the company to do the right thing by the workers who have made them millions."

The Punks with Purpose campaign group for ex-workers stated on social media: "The real living wage has been a cornerstone of BrewDog's public identity for years. This real-terms pay cut for hard-working frontline staff proves there is no principle too dearly held for them to abandon and is directly opposed to BrewDog's previous claim that their 'crew are their most important resource' and giving them fair pay for the work they do is one of their 'core beliefs'.

"Furthermore, by adopting the Government’s ambiguous ‘national living wage’ terminology, it could be construed that BD are attempting to disguise their move away from the real living wage. We stand in solidarity with BrewDog’s bar staff, who deserve better.” Mentions of the business being a real living wage employer have been taken down from the firm’s website.

In a tweet to address the backlash, BrewDog co-founder James Watt wrote: “Investing in our people has always been core to everything we do at BrewDog and I wanted to share an important update with you all.

"For almost a decade now we have been a real living wage employer, but we have taken the decision to move away from April this year. Since March 2022 we have increased the wages of our UK bar teams by a huge 20.4 per cent. This is well ahead of most industries and almost all of our competitors. With the real living wage increasing by an additional 10 per cent in April 2024, we could not implement this on top of all the other amazing things we do for our people whilst still offering fantastic value for our customers at a time where they have less disposable income to spend.”