// Sainsbury’s claims to be the first major grocer to pay the Real Living Wage and London Living Wage
// This further investment in pay comes on top of the £100m investment revealed in January
Sainsbury’s has invested in colleague pay as it “seeks to help people” deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
The grocer claims to be the first major supermarket to pay the Real Living Wage and London Living Wage to all store colleagues.
The vast majority of store colleagues have received at least the Real or London Living wage since March.
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From May 1, retail colleagues in outer London will see an increase in their base rate of pay from £10.50 per hour to £11.05.
This means they will join colleagues both in inner London and the rest of the UK in being paid the relevant Real Living Wage for their location.
This further investment in pay comes on top of the £100 million investment revealed in January when Sainsbury’s became one of the first UK retailers to pay colleagues a basic hourly rate of £10 per hour.
“Our strategy is about investing in what matters most for both customers and colleagues. We know times are tough for everyone,” Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts said.
“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.
“We are proud to pay the Real Living Wage and the London Living Wage in inner London and we have been spending a lot of time considering how we can help our customers and our colleagues as the cost of living crisis intensifies.
“We are always looking at what more we can do and have therefore decided to increase pay rates for outer London to £11.05 so that Sainsbury’s and Argos retail colleagues are paid the Real Living Wage and London Living Wage from May.
“We will continue to listen to the views of all our stakeholders as we balance delivering for customers, colleagues, communities and shareholders. We are committed to paying above the National Minimum Wage and, when setting pay each year, will consider the Real Living Wage, London Living Wage, the National Living Wage, competitor pay and the financial performance of the business.”
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