Sainsbury’s boosts pay as part of £205m inflation package

Sainsbury’s is investing £185m in pay bumps for staff as the supermarket looks to retain staff during a period of high inflation and rising cost of living.

Pay will increase to £11 per hour for retail staff, with London workers paid £11.95.

It represents a 10 per cent pay hike over the past year when combined with a previous pay bump in October.

It is the latest in a sea of announcements by Britain’s largest firms amid rising concerns about inflation – and a tight labour market.

Tesco announced its own pay hike in October of last year.

Sainsbury’s recorded an underlying profit before tax of £340m in the first half of its 2022 financial year, to the end of September, and will have seen the bottom line helped by record spending at Christmas across the whole grocery sector.

“As well as doing all we can to keep prices low for customers, it’s our job to support our colleagues as they face rising costs,” said the supermarket’s chief Simon Roberts.

Supermarkets are facing rising costs across the board, which is filtering through to record food inflation.

The latest figures show signs of the increases slowing, but supermarket margins continue to be threatened by higher input costs and lower demand as a result of inflation and cost of living pressures.

Tesco announced what it called an “inflation-busting” freeze on a host of products this morning in an attempt to shore itself up against competition from discounters.

Lidl and Aldi both saw more than 20 per cent revenue increases year on year in the quarter running up to Christmas, according to data from Kantar released this morning.

Roberts said the pay rise was a “massive investment that reflects the real challenges our people are facing right now. I’m really pleased that the progress we are making against our strategy means that we can continue to prioritise investing in colleagues to reward them for the fantastic service they deliver every day.”