Sainsbury’s announced that it would increase its wages from 12 pence per hour to 12.60 pence an hour by August.
Supermarket giants have announced that the increase in hourly wages is a response to ‘particularly difficult cost inflation’ after retailers warned of price increases later this year.
The supermarket group stated: “We will increase pay for our hourly paid colleagues by 5% over the next year, divided into two separate increases in order to manage a particularly difficult cost inflation environment.”
In March, wages for Sainsbury’s employees and Argos staff will increase from PS12 per hour to PS12.45 before increasing to PS12.60.
The increase maintains the margin between the hourly rate and the national living wage. This is expected to increase to PS12.21 from PS11.44 in April.
Sainsbury’s London workers will see their pay increase initially from PS13.15 up to PS13.70. The hourly rate is then raised to PS13.85.
Sainsbury’s wage increase will place its employees among the top earners of big food retailers. Lidl, Aldi and other stores pay up to PS14 per hour for customer service positions in their stores.
Fuel and clothing are driving the UK inflation rate to its highest level since March 2024.
Sainsbury’s explained the increase in pay by comparing it to the rising prices. British Retail Consortium warned that “there’s little hope” of prices in shops going down as retailers implement measures announced in autumn Budget, such as the increase in employers’ national insurance. Sainsbury’s said last year that the Budget will cost them PS140 million by 2025-2026.
Sainsbury’s announced that it expects its annual profit to increase by about 7%, to more than PS1bn.
Food sales boosted comparable sales by 2.8% during the festive season.
Sainsbury’s UK employs over 160,000 people. The pay increase will affect 118,000 employees. Tesco, the largest employer of the sector, employs about 330,000 people and pays between PS12 and PS12.50 per hour.
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