Primark is set to give its approximately 26,000 retail assistants a pay increase. The popular high street retailer will raise the hourly pay rates for all its hourly paid store staff across England, Scotland, and Wales to £11 an hour, while in London, the rate will rise to £11.51.
This increase represents a 12% rise compared to the same period last year. The pay hike will take effect on April 1, the same day that the new national living wage of £10.42 an hour, applicable to all workers aged 23, becomes active.
Kari Rodgers, the UK retail director at Primark, said the company's workforce is crucial to its success, and the pay rise reflects the company's desire to continue investing in its people and stores as it expands. In addition to the rate increases, Primark will move all its retail assistants to one rate of pay, doing away with the lower aged-related pay bands for workers under the age of 23.
The retailer, owned by Associated British Foods, operates 419 stores and recently revealed plans to spend £140 million on its UK high street stores over the next two years, including the opening of at least four new stores and relocations and extensions, such as Westfield Stratford, Bradford, and High Wycombe.
