British supermarket chain Sainsbury's has confirmed an investment of £200m ($253.5m) to raise the hourly pay of approximately 120,000 of its employees in the UK. 

With effect from March this year, Sainsbury's will increase colleague pay to £12 per hour nationally, marking the company's largest-ever investment in staff remuneration.  

Currently, Sainsbury’s colleagues are receiving £11 per hour nationally.  

Meanwhile, hourly pay for the chain's London-based workers has increased to £13.15 from £11.95.  

This represents a 50% pay increase since 2018 and a 9% rise over the past year, aligning with the Real Living Wage nationally and the London Living Wage. 

According to Sainsbury's, this change will provide its colleagues with an additional annual income of £2,290 in London and £1,910 for the rest of the UK.

In January last year, the chain invested £185m to increase the hourly pay of its employees to £11.00 from £10.25 while pay for London-based colleagues increased to £11.95 from £11.30 per hour.  

Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts said: “Our colleagues do a brilliant job delivering for our customers every day and at the same time they are continuing to face the rising costs of living.  

“At Sainsbury’s we will be increasing pay by 9.1% to £12 per hour, taking our investment into colleague pay to more than £500m over three years. For a full-time colleague, this is an extra £1,910 a year and this increase is well ahead of inflation and the government’s 2024 national living wage of £11.44."