This book investigates the efficacy and impact of the Living Wage campaign as a form of civil regulation within the contemporary UK employment landscape. The authors, Deborah Hann, Edmund Heery, and David Nash, utilize their expertise in industrial relations and labor sociology to analyze how a voluntary, community-led initiative successfully influenced corporate behavior and government policy. By examining the twenty-year trajectory of the Citizens UK movement, the text argues that non-state actors can effectively reshape employment standards through collective organization and moral suasion.

Experts in industrial relations recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of non-state labor regulation. Scholars frequently cite the book for its detailed documentation of how grassroots organizing can successfully alter institutional employment practices.