Marks and Spencer to give thousands of workers second pay rise this year

MARKS and Spencer is to give thousands of workers their second pay rise this year.

Workers will see their hourly pay increased to a minimum of £10.20 from October 1.

It follows an initial pay increase to £10.00 in April this year.

It means a full-time customer assistant at M&S will earn over £100 more each month compared to October 2021.

This is higher than the current national living wage, which is £9.50 an hour for workers outside of London.

It comes as households are being hit with rocketing energy bills and soaring inflation as the cost of living crisis bites.

M&S said this represents an annual uplift of 7.4%.

Stuart Machin, chief executive at M&S said: “Whether you’re running a home or running a business, everyone across the country is feeling the pressure of rising costs.

"We want to do what we can to help ease some of that strain; that's why we have invested in price to deliver better value for our customers and, why we are investing in our colleague base pay for the second time this year."

The retailer said it will also provide its £4,500 salaried staff at pre-management level with a one off £250 voucher to spend in M&S.

Workers already get a 20% discount when they shop in the store.

Several supermarkets, including Aldi and Morrisons have also increased their staffs' pay this year.

Some have raised wages as a reward for all the hard work staff put in over the pandemic, while others hiked their rates to entice new workers to join amid labour shortages.

Budget supermarket Aldi pays all store assistants a minimum of £10.50 an hour nationally – and £11.95 within the M25.

Asda also hiked rates from £9.36 an hour to £9.66 in April.

While Tesco raised its wages from £9.55 to £10.10 in July. Workers at Iceland get paid £9 an hour.

Meanwhile, shopping whizz Kathryn Leech revealed how she slashed her food bill by shopping own brand items at M&S.

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