LIDL is to give a pay rise to its 16,000 employees, overtaking Aldi to become the UK’s highest-paying supermarket.
The bargain supermarket said that staff will earn £8.75 per hour, up from £8.45 outside of London and £10.20, up from £9.75, within the M25 starting from March 1 next year.
Lidl’s pay rate is higher than the Government’s National Living Wage rate of £7.50 an hour, which was introduced in April last year, for workers aged 25 and above.
Workers under 25, are still paid the lower National Minimum Wage.
Lidl claimed its rate of pay will be the highest in the supermarket sector, beating closest rival Aldi’s announced increase of £8.40 an hour nationally and £9.45 in London, earlier this year.
The budget supermarket’s rate now matches the new Living Wage Foundation’s voluntary rate, which was announced today.
The voluntary rate, promoted by the Living Wage Foundation campaign group, is to rise by 30p an hour to £8.75 next year.
For those living in London, the rate will increase by 45p to £10.20 an hour.
“Without our incredibly dedicated workforce we would not be able to positively impact the lives of our customer in the way that we do,” Nan Gibson, from Lidl, said.
Last year, the bargain supermarket also added 2,500 employees to its workforce.
Earlier in the year the supermarket announced an accelerated expansion investment of 1.45 billion across two years, which will see a new Lidl store open every week.
Industry figures revealed this summer that the chain’s increasing popularity showed no sign of slowing as Lidl overtook Waitrose to become the seventh-largest supermarket in the UK.
Data from Kantar Worldpanel found Lidl increased its market share to a new record high of 5.2 per cent with sales rising 19.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to August 13.