Rolls-Royce hands out £2,000 lump payment to workers in bid to help ease cost of living crisis

Rolls-Royce are handing workers a lump payment of £2,000 to help ease their cost of living as inflation soars in the UK.

The Derby-based engineering firm will also be offering workers a back-dated pay increase of 4% to keep abreast of rising prices.

The package will be offered to 75% of workers - including those working on the shop floor and junior managers, totalling around 14,000 people.

However workers are waiting for Unite the Union, which represents many Rolls-Royce workers, to accept the payments.

An internal memo suggested non-represented workers will receive the money in August.

It's unclear what exactly prompted the company to offer the package, which, when the cost of a pay rise is included, will cost it around £40 million.

Thousands of jobs were cut at the manufacturer during the pandemic, as industry virtually ground to a halt without international travel.

The company was forced to raise hundreds of millions of pounds from the sale of new shares, as well as refinancing its debt.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed the move to ITV News Central and said it was "to help them through the current exceptional economic climate."

They added: "In addition, we are offering our shopfloor staff the highest annual pay rise for at least a decade, back-dated to March, and together these measures represent around a 9% pay increase for them," the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson from Unite the Union said: "Unite the Union have considered the Companies final position regarding the Companies final par offer. 

"Unite believes that this offer still falls well below the aspirations of our members and the real challenges they are experiencing in dealing with the biggest cost of living crisis in over 40 years.

"Unite's negotiating committee will be advising Rolls Royce of its position later today in response to this latest offer."