London, UK: Sainsbury’s will increase minimum pay for employees outside London to £12 an hour, with wages for staff in the capital increasing to £13.15 an hour. The increase means all of its workers will be paid the voluntary Real Living Wage, which is higher than the compulsory National Living Wage. About 120,000 staff will benefit from the increase, Sainsbury’s said.
The pay deal comes exactly a year after Sainsbury’s gave its staff a pay bump to £11 an hour, partly in response to other supermarkets increasing wages. Since March last year, Aldi has paid its staff £11.40 an hour outside London and £12.85 inside the capital, while Britain’s biggest grocer Tesco has been paying workers £11.02 an hour outside London since April and £11.95 in the capital.
Supermarkets will need to increase wages at least in line with the new minimum wage when it comes into effect this April.
