Supermarket chain Lidl will increase the wages of more than 17,000 of its employees from 1 March next year, in line with the new rates for the voluntary living wage, announced this week.
Entry-level pay for Lidl staff will increase from £8.75 to £9.00 per hour outside of London, and from £10.20 to £10.55 within the M25.
Voluntary living wage rates exceed the government's national living wage, which is the statutory minimum paid to employees aged 25 and over, currently set at £7.83 an hour and due to increase to £8.21 from April 2019, in line with the 2018 budget.
This is the fourth year Lidl has increased the wages of its hourly-paid employees to match the rates set by the foundation, representing a pay rise of nearly 25% for workers outside of London and 30% for those within the M25 since 2015.
Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of Lidl UK, said: "Lidl is an incredibly exciting business to be a part of right now, with sales continuing to climb and new stores opening every week. Our employees are among the most talented and hardworking in the industry and we are committed to supporting them both inside and outside of the workplace."
The organisation added 2,500 employees to its workforce in 2017, and is actively recruiting for hundreds of roles across the country as it is set to open more than 50 new stores in the coming year, along with five new regional distribution centres by 2025.
Hartnagel said: "With our newest warehouse opening this week in Avonmouth and a further five set to open in the coming years, along with our pipeline of new stores, we look forward to welcoming more people into the Lidl team."
