Sainsbury’s announces pay rise to at least £11 per hour; 127,000 staff to benefit

Sainsbury’s said it will increase the pay for its lowest-paid workers to at least £11 per hour, benefitting  127,000 hourly paid staff.

The latest pay rise of £185 million is on top of the £20 million the retailer invested in October. Sainsbury’s is also bringing forward its annual pay increase by a month to February 2023.

“This is a massive investment that reflects the real challenges our people are facing right now. I’m really pleased that the progress we are making against our strategy means that we can continue to prioritise investing in colleagues to reward them for the fantastic service they deliver every day,” Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said.

Sainsbury’s and Argos hourly retail colleague pay will increase from £10.25 to £11.00 per hour and from £11.30 to £11.95 per hour in London. This rise takes the pay for frontline, hourly paid colleagues to 10 per cent in the last year and 38 per cent over six years.

The retailer noted that this would make it the largest supermarket to pay colleagues above the Living Wage nationally and at the Living Wage in London.

Sainsbury’s has also decided to extend free food during shifts for store and depot colleagues by a further six months due to the popularity of the initiative.

Commenting, Dave Gill, Usdaw National Officer said: “We continue to work closely with Sainsbury’s on pay and these successive substantial increases make a significant difference to our members. With the cost of living continually rising, we have kept open our dialogue with Sainsbury’s and we are pleased the business has responded so positively. These unprecedented additional pay awards, along with free food and additional discount will be appreciated by our members.

“The scale of the financial challenges facing all workers is immense and there still needs to be significant interventions from [the] government. Even under their plan, energy prices will have still doubled in six months and look set to go higher. Along with other prices sky-rocketing the cost of living is simply unaffordable for far too many workers.”