Marks & Spencer UK today announced a £95 million investment in retail pay, making it the latest UK retailer to increase pay ahead of rising minimum wage on 1 April.
This is the biggest investment M&S has made in its retail pay offer and third consecutive increase since Stuart Machin stepped into the CEO role in 2022, despite incoming social security payments and rising operational costs from the Labour government’s budget.
From 1 April, the rate of pay for UK Customer Assistants (approximately 50,000 colleagues) will increase from £12 to £12.60 per hour, representing a 5% increase on last year and a 26% increase since 2022.
The latter is almost double the rate of inflation for the same period (13.5%).
Pay Rises
For workers outside of London, the rise represents an increase of around £98 per month compared to the current rate.
In London, the hourly rate for customer assistants will increase from £13.15 to £13.85, representing a 5.3% increase on last year.
For UK Team Support Mangers, the hourly rate will rise form £13.05 to £13. 85, while those in London will see pay increase from £14.20 an hour to £14.90.
Last year, M&S invested £89 million in its UK retail pay and a further £5 million annual investment to enhance its maternity, paternity and adoption policies.
The 2025 investment means that since 2022, M&S has invested more than £285 million in its retail pay package.
It also means that every UK store colleague will continue to be paid the real living wage as their base pay, which.
Along with M&S’s range of benefits, including a 20% colleague discount and a pension contribution of up to 12%, could combined be worth up to £15.40 per hour.
‘A Record Investment’
Welcoming the latest pay increase, Machin said, “Following the government’s recent increases in tax and national insurance contributions, it’s no secret that M&S and indeed the entire retail sector has some significant cost headwinds to face in the new financial year.
“However, I have always believed that we should not allow these headwinds to impact our hourly paid colleagues, which is why today, for the third year in a row, we are making a record investment in our retail pay offer.
“This means we have now invested almost £300 million in our pay over the past three years, well above the rate of inflation, in addition to our market leading discount and pension offer for colleagues.”
Read More: Aldi UK Workers Get Second Pay Rise In Two Months
