The home-care provider Eden Country Care has become the latest employer in Cumbria to pledge to pay all staff the Living Wage.

This is the amount calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy, on behalf of the Living Wage Foundation, as the level of income needed to sustain an adequate standard of living.

It is £8.25 an hour outside London, £1.05 more than the Government’s ‘National Living Wage’ for over-25s, which came into force this month.

Some employers in the care sector have baulked at having to pay the National Living Wage, but Eden Country Care is voluntarily going further.

The family-owned business, based at Redhills near Penrith, was established in 2002.

Director Heather Tarney said: “Whilst other home-care firms struggle to attract quality recruits, we are regularly contacted by people to ask if we have any vacancies.

“In order to attract local people with the very best personal attributes for home care – characteristics such as calmness, honesty, friendliness, understanding, compassion and reliability – it’s imperative that we offer the very best financial package.”

As well as paying the Living Wage, Eden also pays carers for travel time between clients and contributes 30p per mile towards fuel costs.

It is one of a handful of Cumbrian social care providers to do this.

Heather Tarney’s father Paul, who is also a director, said the company wanted to recognise the responsibility its employees had to shoulder.

He added: “Our carers deserve a wage that they can live on and not just survive on.

“By voluntarily choosing to pay above the legal minimum, we hope to demonstrate how much we value our employees. Simply not breaking the law on pay is not enough. We aim higher.”

Other Cumbrian employers to voluntarily pay all staff at least the Living Wage include Eden Housing in Penrith, Nestlé at Dalston, Story Contracting in Carlisle, and Allerdale and Carlisle City councils.