// Lidl entry-level hourly wages to increase from £9.30 to £9.50 outside London & £10.75 to £10.85 within the M25
// The pay rise will benefit over 20,000 staff, representing 80% of Lidl’s workforce in Great Britain
// Staff to benefit from a minimum of 78p more than the current government national minimum wage
Lidl has announced plans to increase the wages of all staff who are on hourly rates.
For those outside of London, the German discounter said it would increase entry-level pay from £9.30 to £9.50 per hour.
Meanwhile for staff within the M25, Lidl said it raise the hourly wage from £10.75 to £10.85, going up to £11.80, depending on location and length of service.
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Lidl said the pay rise would benefit over 20,000 of its staff across the country, or 80 per cent of its Great Britain workforce.
It would also represent an £8 million investment in staff.
Lidl said that due to the increase, its staff would benefit from a minimum of 78p more than the current government national minimum wage of £8.72 per hour (for over 25s) outside of the M25 and £2.13 within the M25.
It is the sixth year in a row that the discount grocery chain has increased hourly wages and forms part of Lidl’s wider plans to invest £1.3 billion in Great Britain in 2021 and 2022, alongside a target of 1000 stores by the end of 2023.
“It is only right that we increase the income for our colleagues who are the backbone of our business,” Lidl GB chief executive Christian Härtnagel said.
“This is about recognising their hard work and dedication in keeping the nation fed during a year like no other.
“They have served our customers through extremely challenging times and we will always be there to support them in return.”
Lidl said the new wages would come into effect from the supermarket’s new financial year in March 2021, and aligned with the rates advocated by the Living Wage Foundation.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic Lidl has continued to open new stores across the country, with no one being put on the government’s furlough scheme.
It says it currently has 700 vacancies.
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