Aldi store and warehouse colleagues in Durham, Darlington and Teesside are to get a pay rise, which will see Aldi become the first supermarket in the UK to guarantee store and warehouse colleagues pay of at least £12 an hour.

The move makes Aldi the first supermarket to offer rates in line with the Real Living Wage that was set by the Living Wage Foundation in October this year.

Store assistants’ pay will rise further to £12.95 nationally, and £13.85 within the M25, based on the length of service, as part of Aldi’s £67m investment into colleague pay.

The Northern Echo: Aldi colleagues in a storeAldi colleagues in a store (Image: ALDI)

Aldi is also the only supermarket to offer paid breaks, which for the average store colleague is worth over an additional £900 annually.

Giles Hurley, chief executive officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “Just as we promise to provide the best value to our customers, we are also committed to being the highest-paying supermarket within the sector - which is why we are investing more than ever into this pay rise.”

“We are incredibly proud of every single member of Team Aldi and this is a way of thanking them for all their hard work over the past year. We believe our colleagues are the best in the sector and they play a huge part in making Aldi what it is today.” 

The news comes in just as Aldi has been named the UK’s Cheapest Supermarket, according to consumer champion Which? (November 2023) as well as being named the UK’s Cheapest Supermarket for 2021 and 2022.

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Aldi’s commitment to being the cheapest supermarket shows no sign of slowing, having made over £360m of price reductions across 800 items so far this year.

Aldi is the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket and has more than 1,000 stores, 11 regional distribution centres and 40,000 colleagues across Britain.

Aldi to shut all UK stores on Boxing Day for 2023

Last month, Aldi revealed it would be treating staff to a well-earned festive break, confirming it will close all its stores on Boxing Day in line with previous years, to once again thank its staff for all their hard work.

Richard Thornton, communications director at Aldi UK commented: “We recognise that Christmas is an important time for many of our colleagues and keeping our stores closed on Boxing Day gives them more time to spend with their families.

“Customers will have plenty to look forward to in the run-up to Christmas, with more of Aldi’s brand-new Christmas ranges arriving in stores over the next few weeks.”

The supermarket recently announced it is recruiting 3,000 workers to bolster its team ahead of the busy festive period.