Sainsbury’s becomes first big grocer to pay London Living Wage amid cost of living crisis for Brits
Sainsbury’s has confirmed that it will become the first major supermarket to pay the London Living Wage.
Shop workers at Sainsbury’s and Argos stores in outer London will receive £11.05 per hour, a boost of 55p, from next month.
The supermarket said this means staff in the outer areas of the capital will match employees in inner London and the rest of the country in being paid the relevant Real Living Wage for their location.
Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury’s, said: “Our strategy is about investing in what matters most for both customers and colleagues. We know times are tough for everyone.
“That’s why we were one of the first in the industry to pay over the Real Living Wage at £10 per hour and brought forward the announcement of our annual pay review to early January, as we wanted to help colleagues plan and manage the cost of living in the year ahead.”
It follows a £100m investment outlined in January, when the supermarket became one of the first UK retailers to pay colleagues a basic hourly rate of £10 per hour.
Workers in the UK are currently facing a cocktail of rising costs, including soaring energy and grocery bills.
The news also follows Tesco’s announcement yesterday that it will hike hourly wages by 5.8 per cent from £9.55 to £10.10, as Brits face a cost of living crunch.
New hourly rates for store and warehouse staff will be effective from 24 July, the grocer revealed on Thursday afternoon.
The supermarket also confirmed workers in London would be paid £10.78 an hour, a premium of 68p.
Pay at Tesco, which continues to have the largest market share out of UK grocers, will soon match the non-London rate of discount rival Aldi.
Aldi hiked pay for store assistants to £10.10 per hour nationally and £11.55 for London workers in February, in an investment worth £34m.