Tesco to give thousands of workers a pay rise to £10.10 per hour from July

TESCO is giving thousands of workers a pay rise this summer.

Store staff at the supermarket, which is the UK's largest private employer, will see hourly rates rise to £10.10 from July 24.

It's a 5.8% rise on the £9.55 they get now, and will also apply to staff at Tesco's fulfilment centres.

Staff based in London will get £10.78 per hour - 68p more to reflect higher living costs.

Hourly rates for home shopping delivery drivers and click and collect delivery assistants will increase to £11 from the same date.

Tesco boss Jason Tarry said the supermarket was delighted to give staff "a well-deserved pay rise" along with access to extra hours and training.

He said: "These investments in our colleagues are central to making Tesco what we truly want it to be: a great place to work for all. A place that attracts and retains the best talent in the industry.” 

The retailer also said that it will give colleagues working less than 16 hours a week access to extra hours first, rather than recruiting new staff.

And any new joiners will be based on a minimum of 16 hours a week from now on. Previously it was 7.5 hours.

Tesco staff will also get an increase to their staff discount of £500.

Workers at the supermarket get a Colleague Clubcard for themselves and a family member after their first three month, offering discounts now worth up to £1,500 a year.

It's the latest supermarket to boost wages amid a cost of living crisis.

Aldi gave 28,000 workers a wage increase in February this year, with store assistants getting at least £10.10, and £11.55 within the M25.

Marks and Spencer did too, increasing wages by 50p an hour to £10 per hour.

Morrisons put up pay to £10 per hour in April last year, while Sainsbury's staff will see at least £10 per hour in their pay packet from this week,

Lidl increased pay in March from £9.50 to £10.10 an hour for entry level roles.

In London it went up from £10.85 to £11.30 and for those with longer service can be up to £12.25.

Rates for London are usually more to reflect the higher cost of living in the capital.

Millions of workers were handed a pay rise of up to £1,000 from this month after a hike to the minimum wage came in.

The National Living Wage jumped from £8.91 to £9.50 from April 1.

Millions of workers face paying higher National Insurance contributions at the same time though.

How much depends on how much you earn, as the tax is a percentage of wages and has gone up by 1.25 percentage points.

For example someone earning £10,000 a year will pay around £5 more, while someone on a £35,000 salary will pay over £300 a year more.

But from July the threshold at which you start paying the tax will increase by £3,000.

It will rise from around £9,500 to £12,500 and means many will be taken out of paying the tax altogether.

Meanwhile Tesco said earlier this year that 1,400 shelf stacker roles were at risk after moving its overnight stock replenishment into the daytime at 85 stores.

The grocery giant is also ditching its bargain supermarket experiment, closing seven of 13 Jack's stores, putting a further 130 roles at risk.