Sainsbury’s to Raise Employees Pay to £9.20 an Hour

• Supermarket giant to give employees generous pay rise
• Will go up £1.20 an hour
• Investing £100 million in its employees this year
• But bonuses and paid breaks will be cut

Sainsbury’s is planning on increasing its basic rate of pay by £1.20 an hour, to £9.20, and £9.80 in London.

This is well above the national minimum wage, which will be £7.38 from April this year, which was announced as part of the November Budget.

It is also above the National Living Wage, which is £8.75 an hour.

The supermarket said it will be investing £100 million in its employees this year, and will help to fund this by cost savings in the business.

A Latest Deals insider, who worked at Sainsbury's said, "This would probably be in line with them trying to keep above National Minimum Wage but also as they are letting staff go - team leaders are being dropped as it's not seen to be effective anymore and deputy managers are being let go as well. HR departments are also downsizing."

Simon Roberts, the retail and operations director, said, “The retail sector has never been more competitive, and we know that our customers really value our colleagues and the excellent service they provide in our shops.

“We think it is important to invest further in our colleagues so they feel rewarded and motivated to do the best possible job for our customers every day.

“We expect the best from our teams and that’s why we’re committing to a leading rate of pay- great pay for great work.

“Together with our recent proposals to change our management structure in stores, we believe the proposed changes will set us up to run the best shops in the industry, delivering the best possible service for our customers.”

Earlier in the year, the Bank of England did predict private sector employees would be getting a 3% pay rise, and Sainsbury’s is the first large company to officially announce a pay rise similar to this prediction.

A new contract is being introduced for all the 130,000 staff, which the company said will ensure consistency and fairness across all stores, regardless of age or length of service.

The number of roles in the stores will be cut from twenty two, to five, as the company tries to streamline operations.

However, bonuses that are paid in spring, and paid breaks, will come to an end as a result of the changes.

To make up for this, Sainsbury’s will give staff top-up payments for 18 months to make sure that no one will earn less than they currently do.

Joanne McGuinness, national officer of the shopworkers’ union Usda, said, “Usdaw has long been making the case for the real living wage and beyond, so this deal takes Sainsbury’s staff 45p per hour above that £8.75 rate.

“While this is welcome news for Usdaw members working in Sainsbury’s, we will be looking closely at the whole deal, as we understand the company are proposing some contractual changes.

“Consolidating pay can benefit staff, but we want to check the effects on all individual workers.”

Consultations with staff on the pay rise have started, and the new pay rate is planned to start in September this year.

Do you work for Sainsbury’s and will get a pay rise this year? Let us know in the comments.