Sainsbury’s has announced a five per cent wage increase for thousands of staff following a successful Christmas trading period.
The pay rise has been described as “inflation-busting” and aimed to support workers through a “particularly tough cost inflation environment”.
Sainsbury’s has announced a five per cent wage increase for 118,000 staff following what it called its “biggest ever” Christmas trading period.
The UK’s second-largest supermarket chain will raise the minimum annual pay for full-time workers outside London from £22,882 to £24,026 by August 2025.
The wage increase comes as the company reported strong festive trading results, with growth across its grocery business.
Hourly-paid workers at Sainsbury’s and Argos will see their pay rise from £12 to £12.45 in March
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Hourly-paid workers at Sainsbury’s and Argos will see their pay rise from £12 to £12.45 in March, with a further increase to £12.60 in August.
For staff in London, the hourly rate will increase from £13.15 to £13.70 in March, before rising again to £13.85 in August.
The supermarket’s pay increase comes ahead of the Government’s planned national minimum wage rise in April.
The minimum wage is set to increase by 6.7 per cent to £12.21 per hour for workers over 21 years of age.
The retail giant reported overall group sales growth of 2.7 per cent for the 16 weeks to January 4, excluding fuel.
Grocery sales showed particularly strong performance, rising by 4.1 per cet during the period as Sainsbury’s increased its share of the UK grocery market.
The supermarket chain saw record sales volumes in the days leading up to Christmas, with customers shopping later than usual.
Party food proved especially popular during the festive period, with sales surging nearly 40 per cent.
The strong grocery performance helped offset lower sales from the company’s Argos division.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, highlighted the company’s market-leading performance.
He said: “Driven by our leading combination of quality, value and service, we have achieved seven consecutive quarters of volume performance ahead of the market and further accelerated our two-year volume growth.
“The strength of our customer service and operational performance stood us apart in delivering our biggest ever Christmas.
“Customers shopped later than ever and we achieved our highest ever sales in the final days before Christmas.”
Following the strong Christmas performance, Sainsbury’s confirmed it remains on track to meet its profit guidance for the year.
The company told shareholders its retail underlying operating profits are expected to land towards the middle of its £1.01-£1.06billion range.