As winter approaches and the cost-of-living crisis shows no sign of coming to an end, many companies are offering staff one-off payments or increasing wages to help them cope. Research has shown around one in every firms with 250 or more employees has offered a one-off payment to their staff in the last three months.
This comes as i nflation hit a 40-year-high of 9.9%, with a new Energy Price Guarantee coming into effect from this month.
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The payments come as many industries face a staffing crisis, struggling to recruit and retain workers. But firms are also struggling with their own rising costs, with 27% saying their main concern is inflation, and 20% saying it is the cost of energy.
Here we take a look at the businesses offering cost of living payments or bonuses...
Amazon
The online giant announced in October a special payment of up to £500 for its frontline workers. Tens of thousands of hourly paid employees, including full and part-time staff and seasonal workers, will benefit.
The money will be paid in two instalments – £250 in October and £250 in December.
Aviva
Staff at the insurance and investments firm will receive a one-off payment, which will range from £300 to £1,000 for employees earning up to £35,000. The company is also removing car park charges at offices including those in Birmingham and Sheffield.
Unite the Union called on the company to commit to a more substantial rise in salaries for all staff.
Double Eleven
The fast growing games design business has surprised its staff with a permanent £2,500 pay rise, saying it felt the need to 'step in' and support team members facing the rising cost of living. Middlesbrough-based Double Eleven said the raise has been applied as a flat rate so as not to disadvantage lower earners, payable to all from entry level roles to heads of department.
Express Solicitors
The Manchester law firm is to hand hundreds of its staff a one-off payment equivalent to one week's basic pay. The specialist personal injury and clinical negligence firm will issue the payments in November in addition to any pay review increases, performance bonuses or Christmas bonuses paid to its lawyers and support staff.
The move is set to apply to over 430 employees at the firm. The firm said that staff earning £20,000 would receive a bonus payment of £337 after tax whereas those earning £50,000 would receive £722 net.
Grainger
Residential landlord Grainger plc has said it is to give a £1,000 cost-of-living payment to its staff in its September trading update. The news came in an announcement reporting revenue rises despite what it described as the 'financial challenges facing many individuals'.
The company noted the cost-of-living pressures facing many, and said it was taking a 'responsible approach to rental increases'.
Hinckley & Rugby Building Society
Staff were given a one-off payment of almost £700 in their August wage packet to help them through the cost-of-living crisis. Almost 150 staff, from across the mutual's head office and branch network in Leicestershire and Warwickshire, will get the money.
The extra payment will not be given to executive committee members or board members.
John Lewis
The employee-owned group announced a £500 one-off payment to full-time workers, with a pro-rata amount for those working part-time. It also said it is increasing by 4% the entry level pay for employees, which will cost it £10 million over the second half as part of a £45 million support package.
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank gave the majority of employees a financial boost of £1,000 in August. The payment covered 64,182 employees, or around 99.5% of staff in pay grades A to G.
It didn't include senior management or executives.
Taylor Wimpey
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is giving 90% of its staff £1,000 to help them cope with the rising cost of living. The bonus is being rewarded to any workers on salaries up to £70,000 and will be dished out in monthly instalments from September to February.
Taylor Wimpey said it has been reviewing wages to 'ensure competitive levels of pay, alongside our excellent benefits package'.
Barratt Developments
Rival housebuilder Barratt has announced a £1,000 cost of living bonus for 6,000 staff below senior management level. The payment is being spread over six months, with the first being made in July.
This is on top of a 5% pay rise from July to April 1.
Nationwide
Around 11,000 Nationwide staff will receive a £1,200 bonus to help with the cost of living crisis. The bonus will not be given to anyone in the company who earns £35,000 or more.
However, around 61% of its staff base are estimated to be entitled to the payment. It will be paid in two halves with the first arriving in October and the other in December.
Co-operative Bank
Staff at the Co-operative Bank received a £1,000 boost in September. Around 95% of employees benefited.
It comes after the bank already made a one-off cash payment to lower paid staff earlier this year to help them cope with soaring energy, food and fuel bills.
HSBC
Following campaigns led by Unite union, the lowest paid workers at HSBC received a one-off payment of £1,500 on their August payslip. This was mostly received by junior staff including customer-facing employees in UK branches and contact centres.
The impact of rising inflation and the soaring cost of energy means some workers will need more support to avoid financial hardship in the coming months, HSBC said.
Barclays
A total of 35,000 staff Barclays staff have been given a £1,200 pay raise to help with the cost of living crisis - bringing forward an annual pay review that would have taken place in March 2023.
There will be the usual wider group annual pay review for all staff in the 'near future' - which will take effect in March 2023.
MoneySupermarket
The price comparison website gave a one-off £2,000 payment to half its workforce in September to help with the cost of living crisis. The business, headquartered in Flintshire, gave the bonus to iemployees that earn £55,000 and below to assist with rising costs.
Rolls Royce
More than 14,000 staff at Rolls-Royce will be paid an extra £2,000 to help with the cost of living crisis. Workers at the aerospace giant’s UK sites in Derby and Filton, South Gloucestershire, will receive the payment.
The money will be given to junior managers and shop floor workers, while some 11,000 employees at the firm's UK manufacturing sites will also receive a 4% pay rise backdated to March.
Bloomsbury
Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury will hand out a bonus worth 6% of salary to all its employees. It comes after the company had the best financial year in the 35-year history of Bloomsbury.
The group will make the payout to all its 1,000 staff worldwide, 700 of which are based in the UK.
Serco
Outsourcer Serco, which runs security, transport and immigration contracts, is to hand £9million in one-off payments to about 45,000 non-management staff. Group Chief Executive Rupert Soames said the cash is in recognition of the pressure many people, particularly the lower paid, are under.
The 55 Group
Software company The 55 Group has introduced a £720 salary increase. The firm will put an extra £60 a month in the wages of all staff earning less than £50,000 for at least the next year, with reviews to follow.
The 55 Group will also offer subsidised breakfasts and lunches, as well as writing off Additional National Insurance and tax costs.
Selco
Staff at builders’ warehouse Selco will be given an extra £750 this year to help cover part of the rising cost of living.
The company said nearly 2,900 of its 3,000 staff would be eligible for the payment, which will be split into five £150 instalments.
Inflation has surged to around 10% in recent months. According to Companies House data the average wage of a Selco employee was around £23,500 in 2020.
In a statement the company did not mention whether its staff would also get pay rises alongside the payments this winter.
It said the bonuses would cost around £2.5 million to administer. The scheme will run from November to March.
Oxford University
Oxford University has given all full-time staff a one-off £1,000 bonus.
The money is in recognition of their "commitment and dedication" through the pandemic.
The university currently employs around 13,000 workers in total.
TSB
Around 4,500 staff at TSB are to be given a £1,000 bonus. The payment will be made to all staff at the bank earning £35,000 or less and will be made in two stages.
The first handout will come this month and the other next February.
Virgin Money
Virgin Money has given a £1,000 one-off bonus to employees earning £50,000 a year or less - this works out to 78% of its workers.
The 6,000 employees received the bonus in their August pay.
British Airways
New staff at British Airways are being offered a £1,000 sign-on bonus in a bid to attract more employees after the aviation industry suffered during the pandemic. The payment is split into two - £500 is paid in month three after joining, and another £500 in month six.
One of the roles which includes the bonus is grounds operations agent - starting at a salary of around £25,000.
EasyJet
After months of travel chaos with cancelled and delayed flights, EasyJet is offering its cabin crew a 'recognition payment' at the end of the season. This is to recognise team members' efforts over the past few months.
The payment will be worth £1,000.
Morrisons
The supermarket chain will give 80,000 store and manufacturing staff a 2% pay rise from October, increasing its wages for those members of staff to £10.20 an hour.
This is a 2% minimum increase on their base rate.
Aldi
Aldi has increased its minimum pay to £10.50 an hour and £11.95 for those in Greater London, benefiting 26,000 workers. This comes only five months after workers were given an increased pay to £10.10 from £9.55, and to £11.55 from £11.07 within the M25.
Tesco
Around 2,400 Tesco distribution centre employees have been given a 9.5% pay rise in order to help manage the rising cost of living. The pay rise has been applied to all employees in distribution centres managed by Pertemps, including those in Lichfield, Livingstone and Daventry.
Virgin Media O2
Thousands of staff are to receive cost of living payments totalling £1,400 to help with rising bills. Employees earning £35,000 basic pay and under will receive the extra cash bonus.
The first payment, worth £400, will be paid in November, followed by another £400 in January 2023. A further six payments of £100 a month will then be given to employees until July 2023.
Currys
Staff at Currys have had a pay rise in the last 13 months. The latest will see rates increase by a further 3.5% to £10.35 per hour, or £11.43 per hour for employees based in London.
In just over a year, Currys base hourly pay has risen by 15.6%.
Lidl
Lidl has confirmed a pay rise for 23,500 workers starting from October - making it the highest paying supermarket in the UK. The budget supermarket will increase the hourly pay rate of all entry-level store and warehouse workers from £10.10 to £10.90 outside London.
Marks and Spencer
M&S has increased the hourly rate for some 40,000 workers. The new rate of £10.20 kicked in from October 1 - and comes just months after M&S increased hourly staff pay to a minimum of £10 back in April.
M&S will also give 4,500 colleagues at pre-management levels in its stores and support centres a one-off £250 voucher, on top of the usual 20% discount workers get in store.
Monzo
The online bank is set to pay its lowest-paid staff a £1,000 one-off payment to help with rising bills. The extra cash will be given to staff members earning less than £40,000.
Hastings Direct
The insurance firm has said staff earning up to £45,000 will get an immediate minimum 5% pay rise and a £500 bonus in October. It said that added up to around £1,000 for everyone eligible between now and next March, and pay reviews would also be brought forward for those earning more than £45,000.
Company directors and executive team members have not been included in the measures.
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