Marks & Spencer has announced a second pay boost for some 40,000 workers which will increase hourly pay to £10.20.
This means a full-time customer assistant at M&S over £100 more every month compared to their pay in October last year.
The new rate will kick in from October 1 - and comes just months after M&S increased hourly staff pay to a minimum of £10 back in April.
The new hourly rate is higher than the current National Living Wage, which stands at £9.50 an hour for workers outside of London.
M&S will also give 4,500 colleagues at pre-management levels in its stores and support centres a one-off £250 voucher, on top of the usual 20% discount workers get in store.
Stuart Machin, chief executive at M&S said: “Whether you’re running a home or running a business, everyone across the country is feeling the pressure of rising costs.
"We want to do what we can to help ease some of that strain; that's why we have invested in price to deliver better value for our customers and, why we are investing in our colleague base pay for the second time this year."
It comes as household budgets are being squeezed by rising energy bills and soaring inflation.
M&S said the increase represents an annual uplift of 7.4%.
But it looks like M&S isn’t the only supermarket supporting their staff through a cost of living crisis.
Several other big supermarkets, including Aldi and Morrisons have also boosted staff pay this year.
While some have increased pay as a thanks to the hard work staff put in over the pandemic, others have hiked their rates to encourage new workers to join amid labour shortages.
Last month, budget supermarket Aldi confirmed that its hourly rate was climbing up to £12.66 for “warehouse selectors” - the most common role at its distribution centres.
All Aldi warehouse employees have since seen their night premium payments go up from 20% to 25% during unsociable hours.
Altogether, the supermarket saw pay rises of up to 9% since their January 2022 rates.
Asda, Tesco and Lidl currently pay entry-level staff at £10.10 per hour, which is slightly higher than the National Living Wage - which is set at £9.50 an hour for those aged 23 and over.
For those of at least school leaving age, the National Minimum Wage sits at £9.18 for workers aged 21 to 22, £6.83 for workers aged 18 to 20 and £4.81 for under 18s.
