Peterborough staff at supermarket chain Aldi to see their hourly pay rise to at least £12

​Hundreds of staff with a leading supermarket in Peterborough are to get a pay rise this Christmas.

More than 400 staff with Aldi, which has stores across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, will benefit from a new £67 million investment in wages that will see pay levels for colleagues in stores and warehouses rise to at least £12 per hour.

It means depending on length of service, a store assistant in Peterborough, where there are five stores, will see wages rise to £12.95 an hour.

The amount is higher than the National Living Wage which from April 1 next year will rise from £10.42 per hour to £11.44 per hour.

The increase is the second to be announced by Aldi this year. In March the supermarket chain increased its hourly pay to a minimum of £11.40.

The convenience store operator says the increase will make Aldi the first supermarket in the UK to guarantee store and warehouse colleagues pay of at least £12 an hour.

It makes Aldi the first supermarket to offer rates in line with the Real Living Wage that was set by the Living Wage Foundation in October this year.

It also says that Aldi is also the only supermarket to offer paid breaks, which for the average store colleague is worth over an additional £900 annually.

Giles Hurley, chief executive, said: “Just as we promise to provide the best value to our customers, we are also committed to being the highest-paying supermarket within the sector - which is why we are investing more than ever into this pay rise.

“This is a way of thanking staff for all their hard work.”

"We believe our colleagues are the best in the sector and they play a huge part in making Aldi what it is today.”

Aldi is the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket and has more than 1,000 stores and 40,000 colleagues nationally.