Major Welsh employer quietly drops living wage commitment

Rachael Flanagan often talks about her company's "values". Just this month, when she was named director of the year at a Welsh business awards do, she said: "Our growth over the past year has been driven by staying true to our values." One of the values the 39-year-old has trumpeted most in recent years has been fair pay. Her Swansea-based business Mrs Buckét – which offers commercial cleaning across Wales and had a projected turnover of £11.5m for this year – built much of its social media brand on how every one of its 500 staff earned the real living wage or more. When we interviewed Ms Flanagan in 2022, she took aim at the public perception that cleaners are "poorly paid", adding: "All our staff are paid at least the real living wage." That policy was quietly dropped this year. So quietly, in fact, that Mrs Buckét did not remove the 'we are a living wage employer' accreditation from its website until WalesOnline found out from a whistleblower that it no longer applied to all staff, with some now only getting minimum wage. The real living wage is £13.45 an hour – as opposed to the statutory minimum wage of £12.71 – and is calculated by the Living Wage Foundation to meet "the real cost of living". More than 16,000 employers across the UK are accredited by the foundation. The foundation did not appear to be aware of Mrs Buckét's U-turn and told us it would be "in touch with the company in question directly". It also urged workers to come forward if they believe their employer to be "in breach of their real living wage commitments". Mrs Buckét told us more than 95% of its staff still got the real living wage but that it was paying some the minimum wage because of "commercial constraints". A whistleblower told us the change came about because some clients were unwilling to accept a price increase following the announcement last October that the real living wage would be going up by 85p an hour from May 1, 2026. The biggest of those clients was the Llanelli-based distribution giant Owens Group, according to documentation seen by WalesOnline. "Most clients accepted the price rise but a handful pushed back on it," said the whistleblower. "Owens refused to pay and, rather than Mrs Buckét absorbing the hit on their profit margin, they've cut people's pay to minimum wage. "The real living wage is on all our marketing material to prospective clients and it's just not true. We are talking about some of the poorest people in the community, working awful hours and cleaning in horrible environments. "They say they're about their people but clearly they're not. Mrs Buckét could 100% afford to take the hit but the cleaners are the ones that have lost out. That 74p an hour could make a real difference to someone in a cost of living crisis. I think it's really shady after the way the company has promoted itself." There is at least one Mrs Buckét cleaner at each of the 20 or so Owens sites covered by the contract, which are a mix of offices and warehouses, said the whistleblower. "It feels like we've done anything we can to keep this customer, including throwing away our pledge to pay everyone the real living wage," they added. "Cleaners received a letter stating their new pay and it seemed like the company was just hoping no one would push back. The name of the company is based on a character from Keeping Up Appearances, and that's exactly what we do. It's very much about the glitz and glam and social media." Earlier this month Ms Flanagan was recognised by judges at the Institute of Directors Awards Wales for her belief in "people-first" and "values-led" culture. When the chief executive started the company as an 18-year-old it was a one-woman cleaning operation, and she has since transformed it into one of the UK's biggest commercial cleaning firms, with a presence in south-west England as well as across Wales. Mrs Buckét refused to confirm exactly how many of its more than 500 staff had seen their pay drop to minimum wage, while Owens failed to provide any response. Kate Ablett, the cleaning firm's managing director, said: "Mrs Buckét proudly champions the real living wage (RLW), with over 95% of our team paid at or above this rate from April 1, 2026. In a small number of cases, we have agreed a [minimum] wage alternative where commercial constraints make immediate RLW alignment unachievable in the short-term. Our long-term commitment remains to provide fair pay for all colleagues." If you would like to tell us about a story we should be investigating, you can email our investigations editor at conor.gogarty@walesonline.co.uk Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice .