Costa has increased the pay of its 12,500 baristas, effective today (1 October 2015).
Baristas at Costa-owned stores will now be paid a minimum of £7.40 an hour, and £7.20 prior to the completion of their training period.
The coffee chain has increased the pay of its London-based baristas to between £8.20 and £9 an hour.
The pay rise will apply to all staff, including those under the age of 25.
The new hourly rates for trained baristas are higher than the government’s national living wage of £7.20, which will come into effect in April 2016 for workers aged 25 and over.
Chris Rogers, managing director of Costa, said: “Our baristas are the heart and soul of our business and make Costa the successful [organisation] it is today.
“We have been working on introducing new rates of pay and progression scales for some time now and today’s announcement represents a significant investment in our teams.
“We have chosen to pay the same rates to everyone as we strongly believe that if two people are making the same contribution they should receive the same pay and that it should be linked to training and skills levels, not age.”