Marks and Spencer said it is investing £60mln in its store colleague pay, its “biggest ever” investment into wages.
More than 40,000 employees will see their pay increase to £10.90 an hour from £10.20 on 1 April, while the rate of pay for staff within London will increase to £12.05 an hour from £11.25.
Since 2021, the FTSE 100 retailer said it had increased the hourly salary of its employees by 20%, according to a statement.
M&S' pay award is top of £46.5mln spent on store staff pay during the 2022/23 fiscal year, meaning full-time M&S customer assistants will be earning an extra £150 per month compared to April 2022.
“Of course, we all hope inflation subsides, and there are some positive signs that it is doing so, but we need to help colleagues in the here and now,” said chief executive Stuart Machin.
“That’s why we are investing so significantly in our hourly rates of pay and why we are supporting colleagues with a continued commitment to our wide-ranging package of industry-leading benefits.”
Grocery retailers have been dishing out pay rises in the face of the cost-of-living crisis to keep hold of employees.
Tesco recently announced it will be raising the hourly pay of its shopfloor staff by 7% to a minimum of £11.02, its third pay rise in a year.
Sainsbury’s also recently announced a 7.3% pay rise for some 127,000 members of staff to £11 an hour.