Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S and Co-op urged to make £13.45 rule in stores | UK | News
Major grocery chains now face calls to bring wages back to a real living wage (Image: Getty)
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S and the Co-op are being pressured to introduce a £13.45 rule in stores to boost staff pay.
While all four supermarkets have increased workers’ wages this April, major grocery chains are now facing calls to reintroduce wages to real living wage levels. The national minimum wage for people aged 21 and over across the UK rose to £12.71 per hour on 1 April, and many retailers are paying store workers above this level – but few are currently able to achieve the higher real living wage, which is currently £13.45 per hour in the UK and £14.80 per hour in London.
The real living wage is the only wage rate in the UK calculated on the real cost of living and is paid voluntarily by more than 16,000 UK businesses. However, this charge is voluntary, meaning employers can choose whether to pay it instead of the national minimum wage or national living wage.
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M&S said last month it was no longer offering real living wage wages when it announced its latest pay rise, despite offering an increase of at least 6.4% and levels above the national minimum wage and inflation.
The Co-operative Group has announced a 3.5% pay rise for its workers from April but has now abandoned its previous “long-standing commitment” to a real living wage.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s, two of the UK’s largest supermarket chains, also no longer match wages to the real living wage and have not done so since 2025.
Although both chains pay higher than the national minimum wage once inflation has risen, wages are not at the level of a real living wage.
Affordable supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are the only major supermarkets that pay entry-level store staff in line with the real living wage nationwide, with Aldi’s hourly wage exceeding the benchmark.
The John Lewis Partnership, which owns supermarket Waitrose, increased pay for store staff by 6.9% from April, but the increase only matches the actual living wage of workers on the M25.
Investor activists ShareAction are now calling on Britain’s biggest supermarket chains to bring wages in line with the real living wage, saying pressure on firms to make firm commitments on pay will be a “main focus” of annual meetings for shareholders.
However, this came at a time when there were serious cost pressures on the sector, particularly due to increased National Insurance premiums following the tax increase in April last year.
Louise Eldridge, ShareAction’s head of good work, said: “It is disappointing to see supermarkets such as M&S, Sainsbury’s and Tesco moving away from achieving real Living Wage pay rates after setting the pace in recent years.
“We know retailers are under real pressure. The latest Living Wage increase reflects higher living costs, but that’s exactly why it’s so important to pay people a truly living wage.”
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s, which increased workers’ wages by 5% in April, said the group had increased hourly wages by 42% in the past five years and rewarding staff “remains a priority”.
Tesco said its wages had increased by 43 per cent in the last five years and its employees also “benefit from a competitive rewards package”, while the Co-Op said it had been aligning its lowest pay rates with the real living wage in recent years but was “not formally accredited as a Real Living Wage employer”.
M&S also stressed that it had never formally committed to a living wage. A spokesman said: “At M&S, we have increased pay for our UK retail workers by 34% and invested more than £350 million over the last four years, while also offering industry-leading benefits. This reflects the central role our people play in reshaping M&S for growth.”
