Lidl to pay workers voluntary £8.45 Living Wage
Lidl has announced it will pay workers the voluntary Living Wage of £8.45 an hour and £9.75 in London - higher than the £7.20 rate set by the Government.
Roughly 5,500 employees - a quarter of the German supermarket's UK workforce - will benefit from the new rate, set to come into force from March.
Lidl, which has 640 UK supermarkets, said it was the first British supermarket to pay the new voluntary rates, set by the Living Wage Foundation.
Nan Gibson, Lidl board director, said: "We recognise the contribution of each and every colleague within the business and we feel it's important to celebrate our achievements together.
"So it fills me with pride that our colleagues are amongst the best paid in the supermarket sector, and it's absolutely deserved for the commitment and value they bring to the company every day".