Marks & Spencer will increase pay for 55,000 UK store colleagues by 6.4 per cent from 1 April, investing more than £70 million in what chief executive Stuart Machin described on 3 March as an “inflation-beating pay award” that lifts hourly rates above the current 3.0 per cent CPI rate.

The rise takes hourly pay for customer assistants to at least £13.41, equivalent to an extra £132 a month or £1,587 over the year compared with last year. For staff inside the M25, minimum pay will rise by the same percentage to £14.74 an hour.

Machin said: “Our store colleagues are at the heart of our business, welcoming and serving our customers every day and it is important that we invest in them and their pay.” He added that the increase represented “a good cost” and reflected “the central role our people play as we reshape M&S for growth”.

The company said it has invested more than £350m in colleague pay over the past four years, amounting to a 34 per cent increase since launching its reshape for growth strategy. Alongside base pay, M&S offers an uncapped 20 per cent staff discount across its branded food, fashion, home and beauty ranges, a Sharesave scheme and pension contributions of up to 12 per cent, with the combined package potentially worth up to £16.33 an hour.

The move comes ahead of April’s National Living Wage increase and follows a series of pay rises across the grocery sector. Aldi said last week it would lift entry-level rates to £13.50 an hour nationally and £14.88 within the M25, while Lidl pays £13.45 an hour for store colleagues.

According to the company, the increase will make M&S the third-best paying UK supermarket nationally and the second highest within the M25, just behind Aldi in London. Rival retailers have taken similar steps, with John Lewis Partnership announcing a 6.9 per cent rise from 1 April and Sainsbury’s increasing hourly rates by 5 per cent from March.

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