Aldi has said it will become the first UK supermarket business to commit to paying all store staff at least £11 an hour.
The discount retailer, which employs over 40,000 UK staff, said that all store assistants will receive the new rate from January 1.
It added that workers within the M25 will receive £12.45 an hour from next year.
It is the latest pay increase by the German retail group, taking its starting rate 15% higher than it was a year earlier.
Aldi said it has invested around £81 million into raising pay over the past 12 months.
Around 26,000 store colleagues will benefit from the latest increase, Aldi said.Aldi said it will also be increasing the rates of pay for thousands of logistics workers, with starting salaries of at least £10.90.
Giles Hurley, chief executive officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “Just as we promise Aldi customers that we will always offer the lowest grocery prices in Britain, we are committed to being the highest-paying supermarket for our colleagues.
“We are incredibly proud of every single member of Team Aldi and are pleased to become the first UK supermarket to pay a minimum of £11 per hour to all store assistants, exceeding the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended real living wage.”
