Sainsbury’s introduces £13.21 rule in all UK stores – started in March | UK | News

Earlier this year, Sainsbury’s introduced a £13.23 rule nationally, in a boost for its workforce. At the start of the year, the retail giant announced it would be increasing minimum hourly pay for its shop floor workers to £13.23 per hour nationally and £14.54 per hour in London from March.

Sainsbury’s, which has more than 1,450 stores across the country, hailed it as an increase of 5% for hourly paid colleagues in the year ahead. It added that it meant pay would “increase by over £1,200 a year for full-time hourly-paid colleagues in addition to a strong benefits package”. Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts said in the January announcement: “Our colleagues are at the heart of our business.

“Their hard work, dedication and commitment have driven our strong momentum and helped us win grocery market share growth for the sixth consecutive Christmas period.

“I’m delighted to share that we will be raising pay for our hourly-paid colleagues by five per cent this year. This increase reflects our commitment to rewarding our colleagues for their exceptional service and productivity.”

However, the chain wasn’t the only store to enhance pay rates for their workers around that time.

Aldi boosted its hourly pay for store Store Assistants working at UK branches to £13.50 per hour nationally from April 1, with those working inside in the M25 getting £14.88.

It also announced that pay rates were increasing to £14.47 and £15.20 respectively based on length of service.

In its announcement, Aldi said the change would benefit 28,000 hourly-paid store workers, marking the second pay rise for Aldi teams in 2026 alone, after January’s announcement of enhanced rates and extended maternity pay to 26 weeks at full pay.

Other major retailers who upped pay included Lidl, Primark, M&S, and Tesco.

The pay hike came as the National Living Wage (for those 21 and over) rose to £12.71, while 18-20 year olds earning under the new National Minimum Wage seeing their hourly pay upped to £10.85.