Supermarket chain Aldi has announced a pay rise for its UK staff, making it the first retailer to pay at least £12.00 ($15.08) an hour to its store and warehouse employees.

As part of the retailer’s £67m investment in colleagues' pay, the minimum rate for workers based within the M25 motorway which encircles London and where the cost of living is higher will increase to £13.55 from 1 February 2024.

This is in line with the Real Living Wage announced by the Living Wage Foundation in October 2023.

Nationally, pay for store assistants will increase to £12.95 per hour. Within the M25 it will be £13.85, depending on length of service.

Aldi also offers paid breaks, which will cost the retailer more than £900 a year for the average store colleague.

Aldi UK and Ireland chief executive officer Giles Hurley stated: “Just as we promise to provide the best value to our customers, we are also committed to being the highest-paying supermarket in the sector.

“We are incredibly proud of every single member of Team Aldi and this is a way of thanking them for all their hard work over the past year. We believe our colleagues are the best in the sector and they play a huge part in making Aldi what it is today.” 

The retailer has already invested more than £360m to achieve price reductions across 800 items in 2023.

With more than 1,000 stores, 11 regional distribution centres and 40,000 colleagues across Britain, Aldi is the fourth-largest supermarket in the UK.

In October 2023, it revealed plans to open 12 new stores across the UK before the end of the year.