Museum of Homelessness announces flat pay structure

Museum of Homelessness has become an employer and is proud to announce a flat pay structure

Museum of Homelessness has reached a milestone in the charity's development this week. As of the financial year 2020/21 the charity has become an employer. Since it was founded in 2015, the charity has largely been run on a voluntary basis or with freelance fees set at London Living Wage.

In preparing to become an employer, the Core Group (which includes the founders) worked closely with the Board of Trustees over a six month period to explore what pay structure would best suit the aims and ethos of the charity. It was agreed that a flat pay structure at a fair rate for all was key. The Core Group have made a statement explaining more here:

Why have we chosen to have a flat pay structure?

We know that sharpening inequality is a driving factor for today’s homelessness crisis. We can challenge this in many ways. We challenge inequality through campaigning and our creative work, by providing opportunities and by platforming less heard stories. We believe we must also challenge it in the way we structure and operate our organisation and in the way that we build community. It is not enough to demand a better, more equal world, we must also make one.

Making a more equitable world

In order to actively create a more equitable world, Museum of Homelessness commits to a flat pay structure for all employees and freelancers. We pay everyone the national average wage for museums (higher than the London Living Wage), no matter what their role is within the organisation. We review this policy annually.

This pay structure matters to us because:

We explore different kinds of value

Valuing people in terms of the economic worth of their contributions is one wa y of acknowledging people, but it doesn’t have to be the only way. We want to make an organisation where people feel emotionally, intellectually and creatively fulfilled as well as having enough money to live on comfortably.

We challenge inequality

We think that massive pay disparities for different kinds of roles are unfair and unjustifiable. The events of 2020 have shown us that some jobs that were not valued by society in terms of pay, such as caring roles, are actually essential. We challenge inequality by rejecting high salaries for leadership roles and by setting a pay level that is fair to everyone.

We pay attention to power

Currently, through the structure of the Core Group and the Board of Trustees, MoH strives to implement an efficient, equal and collective decision-making process. Power dynamics are challenged and flattened as much as possible. A flat pay structure supports this process.