• Aldi will pay store staff nationally £8.53 an hour from February 1 
  • Staff in London will get £9.75 an hour
  • 3,356 staff will benefit from pay rise
  • New rate will make it top of the league for supermarket pay

Aldi is boosting its minimum pay rate for store staff, which will see it move ahead of its German discount rival Lidl.

Staff nationally will have their basic pay raised to £8.53 per hour from February 1, Aldi said today.

Employees in London will earn a minimum of £9.75 per hour.

Aldi said the new rate is the highest in the supermarket sector.

It exceeds the Living Wage Foundation’s new rate of £8.45, which is independently calculated based on the cost of living.

The Government’s compulsory national living wage for those over 25 is £7.20.

Rival Lidl is raising its minimum pay rate to £8.45 an hour from March 1, and £9.75 in London.

Aldi said a total of 3,356 UK staff will benefit from the pay rise.

Chief executive Matthew Barnes said it will “continue to provide employees with rates of pay and benefits that are the highest in the supermarket sector”.

Aldi, which is currently recruiting 4,000 permanent extra staff across the UK, will open its 700th store early this year.

It is targeting 1,000 UK stores by 2022.

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