Primark is to hand its roughly 26,000 retail assistants a pay rise from next week.
The Irish company, which trades as Penneys in the Republic, is to increase the rates of pay for all its hourly paid store staff across England, Scotland and Wales to £11 an hour, with this rising to £11.51 in London.
The pay rise will represent a 12 per cent increase against the same time last year, it said.
The increase will come into force on April 1st, when the new national living wage of £10.42 an hour – which applies for all workers aged 23 – comes into effect.
Kari Rodgers, UK retail director at Primark, said: “Our people are vital to the success of Primark and the hard work and commitment of our teams helps to create the Primark our customers know and love.
“We want all of our colleagues to continue to be competitively rewarded for their work and this pay increase reflects our commitment to continue to invest in our people and our stores as we continue to grow.”
Alongside the rate increases, Primark said it will also move all its retail assistants onto one rate of pay, removing lower aged-related pay bands for workers under 23.
The retailer, which is owned by Associated British Foods, runs 419 stores.
It said the latest investment in staff pay comes after it announced plans to pump £140 million into its UK high street stores over the next two years.
This will include at least four new stores and relocations and extensions including Westfield Stratford, Bradford and High Wycombe.
