Supermarket staff pay gets more competitive as M&S announces wage rises

The group said it was spending £89m on increasing pay for UK customer assistants across its food and clothing shops from £10.90 an hour to £12 an hour from 1 April.

Its London staff will see minimum hourly wages rise from £12.05 to £13.15 while hourly rates for UK team support managers will rise from £12.20 to £13.05, and from £13.35 to £14.20 for those in London.

The popular high street retailer has said the higher hourly rate equates to about £180 a month more for full-time workers.

Stuart Machin, the retailer’s chief executive, said it marked the group’s “biggest ever investment” into pay, with standard hourly wages rising by a quarter over two years.

“Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer and that starts with being the most trusted employer,” he added.

Other retailers who have announce staff pay rises recently include discounter Lidl which said its 26,000 hourly-paid employees will benefit from entry level rates of £12 an hour from March, with pay increasing to £13 with length of service.

Those working in stores inside the M25 will see pay rates rise to £13.55, increasing to £13.85 over time.

Aldi and Sainsbury’s have also announced pay rises to £12 for staff members outside of London.

The wage increases come ahead of the April National Living Wage increase to £11.44, meaning the aforementioned employees will be paid above the standard while Tesco, which has been paying workers £11.02 an hour outside London, will have to raise wages.

The National Living Wage will also apply to 21 and 22-year-olds for the first time.