M&S Colney

Source: M&S

M&S is raising pay for store workers in a £95m investment.

From 1 April, the national hourly rate for M&S customer assistants, of which there are about 50,000, will rise from £12 to £12.60. For a full-time worker it means about £98 more a month before tax and National Insurance deductions, according to M&S.

The M&S customer assistant rate in London will rise from £13.15 to £13.85.

The new minimum hourly rates are in line with an increase in the real living wage from 1 April.

For team support managers, M&S’s national rate is rising from £13.05 to £13.65, while the London rate is increasing from £14.20 to £14.90.

“Following the government’s recent increases in tax and National Insurance contributions, it’s no secret that M&S and indeed the entire retail sector has some significant cost headwinds to face into in the new financial year,” said M&S CEO Stuart Machin.

“However, I have always believed we should not allow these headwinds to impact our hourly paid colleagues, which is why today, for the third year in a row, we are making a record investment in our retail pay offer.

“This means we have now invested almost £300m in our pay over the past three years, well above the rate of inflation, in addition to our market-leading discount and pension offer for colleagues.”