Sixteen thousand Lidl employees are set to receive a pay rise as the supermarket pledges to meet new guidelines published by the Living Wage Foundation.
Entry level wages for Lidl employees are set to increase 3.6 per cent outside of London from £8.45 to £8.75 per hour, making them the highest paid supermarket employees in the UK.
Inside the M25, wages are set to rise by 4.6 per cent from £9.75 to £10.20 per hour.
The pay rise will come into effect on March 1 next year and represents a £3.5 million investment by Lidl UK.
The news comes as the Living Wage Foundation raised its recommended living wage rates in order to beat inflation.
Around 3600 companies including Lidl, Ikea and Google have pledged to match the voluntary rates, seeing an estimated 150,000 employees get a pay rise.
Despite various retailers pushing to match the “real cost of living”, two thirds of FTSE 100 companies are yet to join the pledge.
“Without our incredibly dedicated workforce we would not be able to positively impact the lives of our customer in the way that we do,” Lidl UK HR board director Nan Gibson said.
“I’m incredibly proud, therefore, to once again show our dedication to our team by increasing wages and ensuring that, at the very least, salaries support the cost of living.”
The discount grocer accelerated its growth plan looking to open one new store every week throughout the next year, having already added 2500 employees to its workforce last year.
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