Aldi hands workers another pay increase to a minimum of £11.40 per hour with staff earning around 13 per cent more than they did last year

• Staff will receive a 13% pay rise to £11.40 per hour, or £12.85 within the M25

Aldi has handed workers another pay increase to a minimum of £11.40 per hour – a rise of around 13 per cent.

The budget supermarket, which employs more than 40,000 UK staff, said that all store assistants will receive the new rate nationally from July 1.

Workers within the M25 will see their pay rise to £12.85 an hour.

The boost, which will benefit more than 28,000 Aldi workers, comes only two months after a pay increase came into force which handed store assistants £11 an hour.

Aldi said the series of rises means that staff will be earning roughly 13% more than the same period last year.

Aldi has handed workers another pay increase to a minimum of £11.40 per hour – a rise of around 13 per cent

The budget supermarket said that all store assistants will receive the new rate from July 1

The new hourly pay levels are higher than the Real Living Wage, which is set by the Living Wage Foundation, of £10.90 per hour nationally and £11.95 in London.

And dependent on the length of service, workers can rise to £12.30 across the country and £13.15 within the M25.

The retailer said it has invested more than £100million in colleague pay over the past 12 months amid continued competition to secure and retain workers due to labour shortages.

READ MORE: Food price inflation hits record 17 per cent in cost-of-living blow that could add a further £810 to annual shopping bills, new figures show

Aldi said it is the only supermarket to pay staff for breaks, so the average worker earns an additional £927 annually.

Giles Hurley, chief executive officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: ‘We believe our colleagues are the best in the sector and we are committed to ensuring they are also the best paid.

‘We are incredibly proud of every single member of Team Aldi and are pleased to become the first UK supermarket to pay a minimum of £11.40 per hour to all store assistants.’

The supermarket has also outlined plans to create more than 6,000 new jobs this year, adding to the 4,500 it created in 2022.

Aldi’s pay increase follows hikes by a raft of rivals including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Lidl.

This news comes as Britons continue to be hit by the cost of living crisis, which has seen inflation soar into the double digits – with food price inflation hitting a massive 17.1 per cent last month.

Research by Kantar showed that the prices could add an extra £811 to average household bills a year.

The 13 per cent pay rise offered by Aldi is bucking the national trend which has seen real wages fall in line with inflation.

This week it was revealed that total pay was down 4.4 per cent compared to the headline annual CPI rate in the three months to January, the worst fall since 2009.

Regular pay – excluding bonuses – tumbled 3.5 per cent, although that was slightly better than the 4.1 per cent seen last year.

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