How a place earns its living can come to define how it is seen.
Blackburn and Darwen are no longer “cotton towns”, but they have become more broadly absorbed into the large catch-all category of the “left behind” industrial communities. As Jeremy Seabrook put it: “no longer at the centre of the British economy, but on the periphery of an indifferent globalism” – places “in transition to a future frequently foretold but never realised”.
Well intentioned documents, such as the Local Strategic Partnership’s “Plan for Prosperity”, say that: “the future success of the economy is dependent on a more positive image being projected and as such a ‘repositioning’ is required”. But what can we offer to work against the common presupposition that we are a low pay, low skill economy?
Employers play a significant part in the lives of the people working for them and in defining the nature of the places where they ply their trades.
Blackburn and Darwen do undoubtedly face a problem when it comes to the matter of their overall prosperity.
According to the Lancashire County Council’s “Lancashire Insight” the median gross weekly earnings for residents in April 2019 for Blackburn with Darwen (£399.50) was the third lowest in the Lancashire-14 area and the 26th lowest in Great Britain, ranked just above Wyre (25th lowest) in the GB rankings (and in the lowest 7% of the GB rankings).
The Blackburn with Darwen residence-based estimate was 16.6% (£79.60) or a sixth lower than the UK median figure. The workplace-based figure was higher; £54.60 per week greater than the residence-based estimate. This suggests that more “higher earners” commute into the Borough.
The Borough has a higher than national and regional proportion of employees in occupations that tend to be associated with lower pay:
| Employment by occupation (Oct 2018-Sep 2019) | ||||
| Blackburn with Darwen (numbers) | Blackburn with Darwen (%) | North West (%) | Great Britain (%) | |
| 6 Caring, leisure and Other Service occupations | 7,800 | 11.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| 7 Sales and customer service occs | 6,100 | 9.4 | 8.1 | 7.3 |
| Soc 2010 major group 8-9 | 14,700 | 22.6 | 17.6 | 16.4 |
| 8 Process plant & machine operatives | 6,800 | 10.5 | 6.6 | 6.2 |
| 9 Elementary occupations | 7,800 | 12.0 | 10.9 | 10.2 |
| Source: ONS annual population survey Notes: Numbers and % are for those of 16+ % is a proportion of all persons in employment |
It also prominently displays the feature that Dr Steve McIntosh called “hollowing out” in a Report for the Department of Business, Industry and Skills. This describes economies as losing jobs in the middle rank by income whilst the number of jobs that are the lowest paid has grown.
The September 2014 “Centre for Cities” Report “Unequal Opportunity” showed that of 59 cities compared, Blackburn with Darwen ranked 7th highest in respect of the growth of polarization between 2001 and 2011 – and this in an area where low pay was already prevalent. In Blackburn one in three workers earns less than two thirds the median wage but this falls to one in ten in the South East.
These problems impact negatively on the vitality and attractiveness of the whole community. It is one thing to look out from the town centres to lovely countryside. It is another to see within them the marks and reminders of deprivation.
The Blackburn with Darwen Employment Charter is an expression of the idea that businesses can help boost both the prosperity and the image of our towns by signing up to five core commitments in their employment practice.
These are:
- Obtaining accreditation as a “Living Wage” and “Living Hours” employer from the Living Wage Foundation
- Recognising and engaging with an appropriate Trade Union
- Guaranteeing a minimum number of hours per week in employment contracts and a minimum period of notice for work/shift allocation
- Establishing an active Health and Safety Committee
- Providing staff with progression and/or learning opportunities.
Living Wage accreditation is awarded to employers by the Living Wage Foundation and is a symbol of responsible business practice. Accreditation is achieved when employers choose to go beyond the government’s minimum wage and pay all their staff the real Living Wage (currently £9.30p per hour. The benefits of paying staff a real Living Wage and receiving accreditation include improved recruitment and retention, improved company reputation and increased staff morale. In April 2017 the Living Wage Foundation released the results of a survey done of more than 800 accredited real Living Wage businesses, ranging from SME’s to FTSE 100 companies. This found that 93% reported they had gained as a business after becoming a real Living Wage employer.
Recognising a trade union facilitates the expression of the employees’ collective voice, building effective employee engagement activity and enabling staff to fully contribute to the direction and success of the organisations they work in.
Giving employees clarity over the hours they work, and not using unnecessary forms of insecure employment, gives people more security over their income and enables them to balance their work and non-work commitments more easily.
Supporting the mental and physical health of employees by delivering high standards of health and safety in the workplace results in reduced risks, lower employee absence and turnover rates, fewer accidents, lessened threat of legal action and a better reputation for corporate responsibility. The Health and Safety Executive has published online Case studies: the benefits of successful leadership, showing how organisations have gained benefits through effective health and safety.
Businesses that support learning benefit from a more skilled, motivated and loyal workforce. Offering work-based learning enables employees to progress and achieve job satisfaction. The happier employees are in their jobs, the more likely they are to stay with their employer. Knowing that there is room for progression is also beneficial and will encourage staff to remain loyal. Having a corporate culture that embraces personal development can encompass both improving technical competence and developing so called “soft skills,” such as creative problem solving, conflict resolution, communication, and teamwork. Every year, the non-profit Campaign for Learning run Learning at Work Week, an annual awareness campaign designed to put the spotlight on the importance and benefits of learning and development for employees. Each year, the week encourages organisations to promote learning to their employees, running internal campaigns and activities to engage their staff and help them grow and develop.
We hope that businesses within Blackburn and Darwen will agree to sign up to the Blackburn with Darwen Employment Charter. It will be important to our community for them to do so, because the idea is not unique. Similar initiatives, such as the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter and the campaign to Make Bristol a Living Wage City, show the importance that other areas place upon this aspect of development. Let us ensure that this is not an area in which Blackburn with Darwen is left behind.