Fair Work Action Plan: indicator report 2026
Report setting out the most recent data available for the Fair Work Action Plan's (FWAP) medium-term indicators. These are used to monitor progress towards the outcomes set out in the FWAP.
6. Employers are supported to offer Fair Work
Key findings
- In each of the last five years at least 450 employers in Scotland gained real Living Wage accreditation per annum. The Construction sector has the highest number of accredited employers.
- While the number of Living Hour accreditations in Scotland has increased annually from 2020/21 to 2024/25, from a small base, new accreditations slowed in 2025/26.
- Most employees aged 18+ in Scotland earn the real Living Wage or above.
Available Indicators
- Real Living Wage and Living Hours accreditation
- Sectoral approach to Fair Work
6.1 Real Living Wage and Living Hours accreditation
Data on the number of real Living Wage accreditations and real Living Hours accreditations is from the Poverty Alliance.
Impact on Fair Work: Attribution
Real Living Wage employers in Scotland
As at 14 September 2026 there are currently more than 4,000 Living Wage employers in Scotland, with more than 16,000 in the UK overall. The number of real Living Wage accreditations since 2015/16 can be seen below in Figure 17. The highest number of accreditations were in 2021/22, with reductions in subsequent years.
There have been over 450 employers in Scotland gaining a real Living Wage accreditation for each of the last five years, though accreditations in the most recent years are lower than in 2021/22.
Source: Real Living Wage accreditations, Poverty Alliance
Real Living Wage accreditations in selected sectors in Scotland
Out of the retail, construction, care, hospitality and culture sectors, the sector with the highest number of employers with real Living Wage accreditations is the construction sector with over 400 accredited employers as at 14th September 2026.[19] A breakdown of the number of real Living Wage accreditations by sector can be seen in Figure 18.
Construction is the sector with the largest number of employers with real Living Wage accreditations
Source: Living Wage Scotland Accredited Employers Directory, Poverty Alliance
Living Hours employers in Scotland
As at 14th September 2026 there were over 130 employers in Scotland having received Living Hours accreditation.
The number of Living Hour accreditations in Scotland has increased annually from 2020/21 to 2024/25, although from a low base, but new accreditations slowed in 2025/26
Source: Living Hour accreditations, Poverty Alliance
6.2 Sectoral approach to Fair Work
This indicator looks to understand how Fair Work is being applied across different sectors of the economy. It is measured using Real Living Wage estimates from the Scottish Government Analysis of the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: 2025 publication. Information on the proportion of employees aged 18 and over earning the real Living Wage or more in Scotland, as well as by industry sector, is provided. Estimates for 2025 are provisional and will be revised in the next ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings release.
Impact on Fair Work: Attribution
Real Living Wage coverage in Scotland
Overall, the proportion of employees aged 18+ in Scotland earning the real Living Wage or more in 2025 was estimated at 88.7%, 0.2 percentage points higher than in 2024 (88.5%). It has typically been on an upward trajectory since 2016.
The proportion of employees earning the real Living Wage or more in Scotland remained relatively constant between 2012 to 2016 before gradually increasing, as shown in Figure 20.
The proportion of employees aged 18 or over earning the real Living Wage or more has typically been on an upward trajectory since 2016
Source: Scottish Government analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), ONS
Notes:
1. 2025 estimate is provisional.
2. Employees on adult rates whose pay was not affected by absence unless furloughed.
3. Dashed line represents a discontinuity in the series in 2021 due to a change in the occupational coding from SOC 2010 to SOC 2020.
4. Due to methodological changes, data for 2023, 2024 and 2025 might not be directly comparable to data for 2022 and earlier years.
5. Data for 2020 and 2021 are subject to more uncertainty and should be treated with caution because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the data and collection.
Real Living Wage coverage in Scotland by sex
The proportion of women (employees aged 18+) earning the real Living Wage or more was estimated at 88.0% in 2025, higher than in 2024 (87.3%) but lower than the proportion of men (employees aged 18+) earning the real Living Wage or more in 2025 (89.5%).
Real Living Wage coverage in Scotland by industry sector
The proportion of employees aged 18+ in Scotland earning the real Living Wage or more in 2025 varies by industry sector. An estimated 96.9% of employees in the Education sector earned the real Living Wage or more in 2025 compared to 55.6% in the Accommodation and Food Services activities sector[20], as can be seen in Figure 21.Further details on previous years is available from Table 5.4.2 of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 – supporting tables. These tables also provide the estimates for the proportion of employees earning less than the real Living Wage.
The proportion of employees aged 18 or over earning the real Living Wage or more varies by industry sector. For the available sectors, the proportion of employees earning the real Living Wage or more was highest in the Education sector and lowest in the Accommodation and food service activities sector in 2025.
Source: Scottish Government analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), ONS
Notes:
1. 2025 estimates are provisional.
2. Employees on adult rates whose pay was not affected by absence.
3. Analysis is based on the real living wage rate of £12.60 in 2025.
4. Industry sectors are defined using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007.
5. Statistical robustness - all estimates are considered precise.
6. Estimates for the following industry sectors are not available: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities; Information and communication; Financial and insurance activities; Real estate activities; and Public administration and defence, compulsory social security.