WEST coast ferry operator CalMac has been named as Scottish Living Wage Champion for 2016.

In August 2015, CalMac became the UK’s first ferry company to gain Living Wage Foundation accreditation and also the first major transport operator in Scotland.

CalMac remains the only UK ferry operator with Living Wage accreditation, which was earned by David MacBrayne Ltd – CalMac’s holding company – and extends to all areas of the business, including Argyll Ferries; a total of some 1,500 staff.

More than 600 companies and organisations in Scotland are Living Wage Foundation accredited, making up 3,000 employers across the UK as a whole. Only 27 of these are transport related.

The award was presented at the Living Wage Expo Conference in Glasgow by Director of The Poverty Alliance, Peter Kelly, and was received on behalf of David MacBrayne by CalMac’s Managing Director Martin Dorchester.

Martin said: “We are extremely proud to receive this award. We have led the way in our own industry and we hope that others will choose to follow. It was quite simply the right thing to do.”