MORE than 350 employers have now signed up to the Living Wage campaign in Brighton and Hove.

Sunday marks the start of Living Wage Week – a national celebration of the Living Wage movement.

The Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign has been run in the city for more than five years by Brighton Chamber.

It was launched to encourage businesses to pay employees a decent hourly rate.

The campaign has been highly successful so far.

The 350th Living Wage employer to sign up to the campaign was digital start-up SomeoneWho.

Its co-founder Andrew Saffron said: “Brighton and Hove is vibrant, fun and full of energy.

“It’s an amazing experience to be surrounded by so many like-minded people.

“We have committed to paying all our employees the Brighton and Hove Living Wage simply because it’s the right thing to do.

“In terms of maintaining great staff morale we have to treat people as you would wish to be treated.

“That’s all there is to it.”

Mr Saffron said employee wellbeing is key to a company’s success.

He said: “We must recognise that we’re all human beings – we have good days, we have bad days.

“The best we can do as employers is to create an environment in which your team can have as many good days as possible and to show understanding and support them when they’re having a bad day.”

Brighton Chamber is marking Living Wage Week on November 9 by hosting a pop-up breakfast at the i360 with guest speaker Juliet Tzabar, MD and CEO of digital agency Plug-In Media.

Tickets are all sold out but you can catch up with what happened at the event on the Brighton Living Wage social media channels.

To find out more about the campaign, or to sign up free, visit www.livingwagebrighton.co.uk. You can follow the campaign on Twitter @BHLivingWage.

The Living Wage is calculated annually to reflect the cost of living in the UK and applies to all staff over 18 who regularly work at the business.

If your business is already signed up to the campaign, you’ll have until April 1, 2018, to implement the new rate.

Launched in 2012, the Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign aims to encourage local businesses to voluntarily pay all employees a decent hourly rate.

The new rate is announced every November during Living Wage week and businesses are given until April 1 to implement the new rate which is currently £8.45 per hour

It aims to support and encourage businesses to voluntarily commit to paying their employees the Living Wage.