As announced on Friday September 18th by Rhys Moore, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, "We are delighted by the move from Lidl to increase the pay of their staff to rates above the current UK and London voluntary Living Wage rates, and significantly higher than the national minimum wages". This makes the discount grocer the first supermarket chain in the UK to adopt the Living Wage commitment.
Today, a Lidl employee in England, Wales or Scotland earns a minimum of £7.30 per hour, and £8.03 in London. The salary increase will be effective as early as next month for 9,000 (out of 17,000) Lidl workers, from 1st October: an hour will pay at least £8.20 across the UK and £9.35 in the UK.
This will surely trigger a reaction from Lidl's competitors, which are already quite worried about the German discounter's progress. Especially since Lidl is also working on its image, the "low-cost" label being sometimes perceived as negative. Lidl is therefore looking for small to medium-sized locations to open in central London. Not just a few: the goal is close to 300 convenience stores. In the meantime, the company headquarters will move from Wimbledon to South West London, where a 220,000 sq ft new building will be built to house a staff of 750 people.
Photo: lidl.co.uk
News in the same category
Finally, the House of Fraser plan, to close 31 of its 59 stores, can go ahead.
As of April 2017, M&S had 979 stores throughout the UK. Considering the fact that this massive conglomerate was first established in 1884, many consumers will be surprised to learn that they are planning to close no fewer than 100 stores by the year 2022.
Croft Carpets in Lincoln have celebrated their tenth anniversary with a move to new larger premises.
River Island is one of the most well known high street brands in the UK, usually associated with fashion. It has recently been announced that the brand is now offering a homeware range, similar to other popular high street clothing brands.
