Tesco has reached an agreement with trade union USDAW that will significantly increase the hourly pay rate for colleagues in stores, from £11.02 to £12.02 which is above the Real Living Wage.  

Tesco remains one of the few supermarkets to recognise an independent trade union and negotiate pay rates with them for all its hourly paid colleagues in the UK.

This new rate will come into effect from April 2024 and represents a 9.1% rise in base pay and a record investment of more than £300m in hourly colleague pay. This announcement follows the significant investment Tesco has made in hourly paid store colleagues' pay in recent years following previous negotiations, including a total increase of 26% in hourly pay announced since April 2022, equivalent to a more than £750m investment.

As well as investing in its hourly rate of pay, Tesco continues to support colleagues’ health, wellbeing and family commitments and is also announcing today an increase in paternity leave to an industry-leading 6 weeks fully paid, alongside an increase in maximum company sick pay entitlement to 18 weeks for eligible colleagues. 

This follows the launch of a Virtual GP service for colleagues, becoming the first major supermarket to offer the right to request flexible working from day one, and enhancing other family leave polices including 26 weeks fully-paid maternity, adoption and kinship leave, over the past year.

Read more here.