Asda has announced it is awarding staff a 10% pay rise as it spends £141m this year to increase hourly pay for store workers. The rise, which will start from April 2, will take pay from £10.10 an hour across the UK to £11 an hour.
Workers in stores inside the M25 will see their money go from £11.25 to £12.17 an hour. Then from July 2 both will rise again with the UK rate going to £11.11 while the London rate will go to £12.28.
The payments will mean the hourly rate is above that for both National Living Wage and Real Living Wage. The National Living Wage will rise to £10.42 from April for the UK and while the Real Living Wage is £10.90 in UK and £11.95 in London.
Supermarket chiefs said 115,000 stor workers will benefit from the increase across its 633 supermarkets. They said it comes on top of an 8% increase for hourly-paid retail workers in 2022.
In addition, all eligible hourly-paid store colleagues who have been with Asda for more than three months will receive a bonus payment for 2022. This amount will be confirmed at the end of February and paid to colleagues the following month.
The new rates of pay were agreed with Usdaw, the trade union that holds the mandate to negotiate with Asda on retail pay in Northern Ireland. The new rates will also apply to retail colleagues across the UK.
Mohsin Issa, Asda’s Co-owner, said: “We appreciate the great job that our store colleagues do representing Asda while serving customers day in and day out. We know that rising living costs are affecting customers and colleagues alike and recognise we have a responsibility to support them during these challenging times. This is why we have made a record investment of £141m to increase pay for retail colleagues by 10% this year.”
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The store said it as also looking to help provide extra support for customers during the cost of living crisis and give them more control over their shopping budget. It said it is launching a new initiative to lock the prices on 600 popular branded and own label products, more than half of which are fresh meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable products. The campaign will run from 21st February to 31st May.
The supermarket has also stepped up its support for families with the launch of an exclusive partnership with Quaker Oats to offer children a free warm breakfast in any of its 205 cafes during the February half term holidays. The offer means that families are now able to access both a free children’s breakfast and a main meal for just £1 in all Asda cafes.
Last month, Asda announced its Kids’ £1 meals and over 60’s Winter Warmer £1 café deals would be extended until the end of March. Both offers have been hugely popular with customers and more than 1.1m meals have been served since the launch last July.
