At A Glance
Fair pay does not sit on your quote as a surcharge: Your price is built from the real job, which is access, stairs, carry distance, volume, crew size and time, and a properly paid crew usually completes that job with fewer mistakes and fewer repeat trips, which is where the cost of a move actually escalates.
You can verify what a mover pays before you book: The Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign publishes a public directory of employers who have pledged to pay the Real Living Wage, and you can search it in under a minute. Ask the second question too, which is who will physically be on the van on your moving day.
What we do at ESV: We pay £15.00 an hour, which is £1.55 above the current UK Real Living Wage of £13.45, we are signed up to the Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign, and every move is backed by £20,000 Goods In Transit and £5m Public Liability. Peter is your direct contact from quote to final box on 07552 555 820 or via www.eastsussexvan.com, and you can follow us on Instagram for real move days and practical packing tips.
The Numbers, Stated Plainly
There are three different figures in circulation and they get confused constantly, including by businesses that should know better.
The National Living Wage is the legal minimum. From 1 April 2026 it is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. Every employer must pay at least this.
The Real Living Wage is voluntary, independently calculated by the Living Wage Foundation from the actual cost of essentials such as rent, energy, food and transport. It currently stands at £13.45 across the UK and £14.80 in London, and unlike the legal minimum it applies to everyone over 18.
We pay £15.00 an hour, which is £1.55 above the UK Real Living Wage and £2.29 above the legal minimum.
There are currently 4.4 million workers, one in seven, paid below the real Living Wage.
Removals sits squarely in the category of work where that gap shows up. It is physical, it is often seasonal, and it is easy for an operator to run on casual labour booked the night before. We decided at the outset not to build the business that way.
Local Pro Tip: Check The Directory Before You Check The Reviews
Anyone can write "we pay our team fairly" on a webpage. The Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign, run by Brighton Chamber since 2012, keeps a public directory of local employers who have pledged to pay the Real Living Wage, and over 1,000 businesses across the city are listed. Search the company name there before you book. It takes a minute and it separates a genuine commitment from a marketing line.
Does Paying Properly Make Your Move More Expensive?
This is the question behind the question, so here is a direct answer: no, not in the way people expect.
A removals quote is built from the shape of the job. Volume, access at both ends, floor level, stairs or lift, carry distance from the legal stopping point, parking constraints, how much needs dismantling, and how many hours the whole thing realistically takes. Wages are one input into an hourly rate, not a separate line item bolted on top.
Where cost actually escalates on a moving day is in the things that go wrong. A second trip because the van was undersized. An hour lost because nobody checked the lift dimensions. A damaged item that has to be resolved afterwards. A crew who have never worked together taking twice as long on a difficult staircase. Those are the expensive outcomes, and they are far more common with rotating casual labour than with a settled team.
94% of Living Wage Employers say accreditation has benefitted their organisation.
We would rather quote honestly for the hours a job genuinely needs and pay the people doing it properly, than quote low, run thin, and let the day absorb the difference. If you want to see how we build a quote, our guide on choosing a calm, reliable removals team covers what to compare between firms.
What It Changes On Moving Day
The practical argument for fair pay in this industry is retention, and retention shows up in ways customers actually notice.
A crew who work together regularly have a rhythm. They know who takes the top of the staircase and who takes the bottom. They do not need to discuss how to get a wardrobe round a tight Victorian turn because they have done it a hundred times. On a Brighton flat move with a narrow stairwell and a permit zone outside, that difference is the whole day.
It also affects tone. A move is a stressful thing to sit through, and the mood of the crew sets the mood of the house. People who feel valued at work turn up calm, communicate clearly, and take the extra thirty seconds to protect a bannister properly. That is not sentiment, it is the mechanism by which pay reaches the customer.
Local Pro Tip: Ask Who Will Actually Be On The Van
When you get a quote, ask directly whether the crew is a regular team or labour booked in for the day. It is a fair question and a straight answer tells you a lot. In Brighton and Hove properties with tight staircases, low ceilings and awkward turns, teams who already know how each other work move more smoothly and protect better, because none of it is being figured out for the first time in your hallway.
What We Do Not Do
Fair pay is easier to claim than to hold, so it is worth being specific about the practices we have chosen against.
- We do not use zero hours contracts to shift risk onto the people doing the lifting.
- We do not book unknown agency labour the night before a job to cover a busy weekend.
- We do not quote below the hours a job needs and then rely on the crew to absorb the shortfall.
- We do not treat pay as the flexible number when fuel, maintenance, insurance and equipment costs rise.
Those costs are real and they are not small. Running a Luton van and a Sprinter properly, keeping both maintained to the standard we describe in our guide to keeping the fleet safe and reliable, and carrying full insurance all add up. Wages are simply not where we look when we need to find margin.
The Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign logo. The campaign has been run by Brighton Chamber since 2012 and publishes a public directory of employers across the city who have pledged to pay the Real Living Wage.
The Local Argument
Brighton is an expensive city to live in, and the gap between what physical work pays and what a flat costs has widened for years. A mover who cannot afford to live in the city they work in eventually leaves the trade, and the trade loses the accumulated skill that makes a difficult move look easy.
Wages paid locally are also spent locally. That is the plainest version of why the campaign exists, and why over a thousand Brighton and Hove businesses have signed up to it. We would like more of the removals and transport sector in this city to be on that list.
Get In Touch
What We Need To Quote Fast
- Collection and delivery postcodes
- Rough inventory, or a few photos, or a quick video walkthrough
- Floor level and lift or stairs details at both ends
- Parking notes and the closest legal stopping point
- Any single items valued at £500 or more
Call Peter on 07552 555 820 or request a quote at www.eastsussexvan.com. We cover Brighton and Hove, East and West Sussex and longer UK routes, with house removals, man and van, packing and furniture assembly delivered by the same paid team throughout.
Key Terms
Real Living Wage
A voluntary hourly rate set annually by the Living Wage Foundation, calculated from the actual cost of essentials rather than from the legal minimum. It currently stands at £13.45 across the UK and £14.80 in London, and applies to all workers over 18.
National Living Wage
The government set legal minimum wage, £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. Despite the similar name, it is a different figure calculated a different way, and it is lower.
Brighton And Hove Living Wage Campaign
A local, business led campaign run by Brighton Chamber since 2012, encouraging employers across the city to pay the Real Living Wage voluntarily. Employers who sign up are listed in a public directory and may display the campaign logo.
Living Wage Foundation Accreditation
A separate, formal national accreditation with its own requirements, including extending the Real Living Wage to regular third party contractors. It is not the same as signing the local Brighton campaign pledge, and the two are often described as if they were interchangeable.
£15 Per Hour Removals Rate
Our stated pay rate for removals work across Brighton and Sussex, set above the Real Living Wage to reflect the physical demands of the job and local cost of living pressure.
Crew Retention
How long movers stay with a firm. High retention means a settled team who work together habitually, which is the mechanism by which fair pay turns into careful handling and a faster, calmer moving day.
Zero Hours Contract
An arrangement with no guaranteed hours, common in labour intensive sectors as a way of shifting risk onto workers. We do not use them.
Casual Or Agency Day Labour
Movers booked in at short notice with no prior working relationship with the crew or the firm. It is cheaper per hour and it is usually the reason a difficult move takes longer than quoted.
Goods In Transit Insurance
Cover that protects your belongings while they are loaded, carried and driven. Every ESV move carries £20,000 Goods In Transit alongside £5 million Public Liability, treated as a fixed cost of running the business rather than an optional extra.
Fixed Price Quote
A price built from the real shape of the job, which is volume, access, floor level, carry distance and realistic hours, agreed before the day. Honest quoting is what allows a fairly paid crew without a surcharge appearing on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which postcodes do you cover for Brighton and Sussex removals?
We cover Brighton and Hove, all of East and West Sussex, and longer UK routes from the same base.
We are based in BN1 to BN3 and work across the wider BN postcodes throughout Brighton, Hove and the surrounding towns, along with RH and TN across the two counties and PO towards the west. The same paid crew that starts your move is the crew that finishes it, whether that is a short cross city job or a longer relocation.
If your collection or delivery sits outside these areas, send both postcodes and we will confirm quickly rather than guess. Longer distance moves are quoted on exactly the same honest basis as local ones, built from the real shape of the job.
What is the Real Living Wage and how is it different from the National Living Wage?
The Real Living Wage is the higher, voluntary rate tied to real household costs, while the National Living Wage is the lower legal minimum.
The Real Living Wage is independently calculated by the Living Wage Foundation from the actual cost of essentials such as rent, energy, food and transport. It currently stands at £13.45 across the UK and £14.80 in London, and it applies to everyone over 18.
The National Living Wage is the government's legal minimum, £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. The names are confusingly similar, but they are different figures calculated in different ways, and the legal minimum is the lower of the two. We pay £15.00 an hour, above both.
Are you signed up to the Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign?
Yes, ESV is signed up to the Brighton and Hove Living Wage Campaign, and you can verify that yourself in under a minute.
The campaign is run by Brighton Chamber and has operated since 2012, listing over a thousand local businesses that have pledged to pay the Real Living Wage. Search the employer directory at livingwagebrighton.co.uk and you will find us under East Sussex Van.
It is worth knowing that the local pledge is a separate thing from Living Wage Foundation accreditation, which carries additional requirements around third party contractors. We would rather state that distinction clearly than blur the two. Then ask the second question too, which is who will actually be on the van on your moving day.
Does paying the Real Living Wage make my move more expensive?
No, paying properly does not sit on your quote as a surcharge.
Your price is built from the shape of the job, which is volume, access at both ends, floor level, stairs or lift, carry distance from the legal stopping point, parking and the realistic number of hours. Wages are one input into an hourly rate rather than a line bolted on top.
Where cost actually escalates is in what goes wrong, a second trip from an undersized van, an hour lost to an unchecked lift, or damage put right afterwards. Those outcomes are far more common with rotating casual labour than with a settled team. We pay £15.00 an hour, above the UK Real Living Wage of £13.45, and quote honestly for the hours a job genuinely needs.
Why does paying £15 an hour matter for a job like removals?
Paying £15 an hour matters because removals is skilled physical work, and fair pay is how you keep the people who have learned it.
Getting a wardrobe down a listed Lewes staircase or a sofa into a Brunswick mansion block lift without marking anything is a genuine skill, built over years. Fair pay reaches you through retention. Movers who stay accumulate experience with tight access, awkward items and difficult buildings, and teams who work together regularly need less discussion and make fewer errors.
That care is not sentiment, it is the mechanism by which pay turns into a calmer, faster moving day. It is why we treat pay as an operational decision rather than a marketing one.
Do you use zero hours contracts or agency labour on busy weekends?
No, we do not use zero hours contracts, and we do not book unknown agency labour the night before to cover a busy weekend.
Casual labour booked at short notice is cheaper per hour, and it is usually the reason a difficult move takes longer than quoted, because nobody on the crew has worked together before. We would rather quote honestly for the hours a job needs and run a settled team who already have a rhythm.
You are welcome to ask who will be on the van for your specific job, and we will give you a straight answer. A company that pays properly will answer that question without hesitating.
Are my belongings insured while you move them?
Yes, every ESV move carries £20,000 Goods In Transit and £5 million Public Liability as standard.
That cover is in place from the first box we load to the last one we place, and it is part of the fixed cost of running the business properly rather than an optional extra. Insurance sits alongside a maintained fleet and a fairly paid crew as one of the costs we simply do not cut to find margin.
If you would like the detail, our post on why we raised our Goods In Transit cover to £20,000 explains the reasoning behind it. The aim throughout is that the careful side and the covered side of a move are handled to the same standard.
What happens if I own a single item worth more than £500?
If any single item is valued at £500 or more, tell us upfront so we can plan its handling and placement properly.
That covers artwork, antiques, musical instruments and specialist electronics among other things. Knowing in advance lets us bring the right protection, decide the safest position in the van, and assign the piece to the crew members best suited to it.
It also means the move is planned around the item rather than reacted to on the day. None of this inflates your quote unfairly, it simply makes sure a valuable piece is treated as one from the first message, which is far easier with a settled team who handle valuables regularly.
What do you need to give me a fast, fixed quote?
To quote fast we need your collection and delivery postcodes, a rough inventory or a few photos, floor levels, parking notes and any single item worth £500 or more.
A quick video walkthrough is often faster than a written list. Tell us whether there is a lift or stairs at both ends and the closest legal stopping point, since carry distance and access shape the real cost of the day.
With that we can give an honest fixed price built from the actual job rather than a guess that unravels later. The more accurate your information, the tighter and fairer the quote we can stand behind.
What makes the ESV way different, and how do I book?
The ESV way is calm planning, careful handling and one paid team from quote to final box, with Peter as your direct contact throughout.
You deal directly with Peter from the first message to completion, so the plan stays consistent and nothing is lost in a handover. We pay above the Real Living Wage because a settled, valued crew is the mechanism by which fair pay reaches you as careful handling on the day, not a marketing line on a page.
Call Peter on 07552 555 820 or request a quote at www.eastsussexvan.com. You can follow us on Instagram @esvremovals for real move days and practical packing tips.
About the author...
Peter Hawes is the director of ESV Removals Ltd, a family run Brighton and Sussex removals team known for calm planning, careful handling and clear prices. He holds a 2:1 BA (Hons) in English Literature and Digital Media from the University of Brighton. Peter oversees every move from first message to the last box and brings local know how for permit zones, tight stairwells and seafront buildings. ESV is fully insured with £20,000 Goods in Transit and £5 million Public Liability, backed by hundreds of five star Google reviews. The company follows an eco pledge that prioritises Esso Ethos fuel where available, reuses boxes and runs paperless bookings. Learn more at www.eastsussexvan.com.
