Aldi has announced that it will pay all store employees at least £12.71 per hour from the beginning of March.

For those working within the M25, pay will increase to £14.00 per hour.

Aldi said the new minimum rate exceeds the Real Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation in October last year.

The discounter said that pay rates will rise further based on the length of service, with store assistants receiving £13.62 nationally and £14.23 within the M25.

Aldi claims that it pays the highest hourly rates in the sector.

It also says it is the only supermarket that pays its workers for breaks taken during their shifts, estimating that this is worth approximately £1,370 a year for the average store employee.

Earlier this month, rival supermarket Lidl announced that it will increase pay for around 28,000 hourly workers.

Entry-level pay will rise to £12.75 nationally, up from £12.40 and increase to £13.65 depending on the length of service. In London, new starters will see pay rates go up to £14,, increasing to £14.35 over time.

The discounter said this latest investment into pay is worth around £15 million, including increases for salaried colleagues across the business.

It has invested around £54 million in employee wages over the past 12 months.

“Our colleagues are the best in the business and this latest pay rise reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring they remain the best paid,” said Giles Hurley, chief executive officer of Aldi UK and Ireland. “Every single Aldi colleague plays an absolutely vital role in delivering on our promise to bringing unbeatable Aldi prices to even more customers across the UK.”

Last week Aldi announced it will invest £67 million in upgrading existing stores this year.

The move marks the next stage of the budget supermarket’s store enhancement scheme and comes as the first phase of planned store upgrades nears completion.
The company has already spent £600 million on existing locations since 2017.

---