Lidl and Aldi have become the highest-paying supermarkets in the borough, as staff members start the year with another pay rise.

Store staff at Lidl get an hourly pay rise of £12 from £11.40, rising to £13 with length of service. Aldi also offer staff an hourly pay of £12, rising to £12.95 based on length of service.

Lidl last month revealed it was investing £37m in pay to increase the wages of its 26,000 hourly-paid workers and salaried colleagues following a similar move by Aldi in December 2023.

The lowest payers were Morrisons at £10.92 an hour and M&S who pay staff £10.90.

The National Minimum Wage is £10.45 an hour for those aged 21 and over – this will increase to £11.44 from April 2024.

All supermarkets pay higher than the National Minimum Wage.

So if you’re considering a job at one of these shops it’s worth looking at the work perks you can get too.

But which grocery shop pays the best rates? Here are the basic hourly rates of pay ranked.

Lidl

Last month, Lidl invested £37m in pay to increase the wages of its 26,000 hourly-paid workers and salaried colleagues.

From March 1, entry-level roles at the discount grocer will be 17% higher than the new National Minimum Wage being introduced in April.

Colleagues will see hourly pay raised from £11.40 to £12, increasing to £13 with length of service.

Other new pay benefits include a bank holiday premium of £2 per hour and an enhanced nightshift premium of £3.50.

Aldi

In December, Aldi raised pay for all store and warehouse colleagues to a minimum of £12 an hour nationally.

Store assistants will see their pay rise further to £12.95 based on the length of their service.

Aldi is also the only supermarket to offer paid breaks, which for the average store colleague is worth more than an additional £900 a year.

Sainsbury’s

Last month, Sainsbury’s invested £200m to increase hourly rates by 9.1%.

From March, wages for store colleagues will rise to £12 per hour nationally and £13.15 within the M25.

The change, which was described by Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts as “industry leading”, will impact 120,000 hourly paid employees and marks the supermarket giant’s single biggest ever investment into colleague pay.

Since 2018, Sainsbury’s has increased pay by 50% and by 9% in the past year in line with the Real Living Wage.

Employees will receive an additional £1,910 a year nationally and £2,290 a year in London, making it the largest supermarket to pay colleagues the new Real Living Wage nationally and the London Living Wage.

Asda

Last year, Asda invested a record £141m in giving staff a 10% pay increase to hourly-paid store colleagues.

In July, pay rates rose to £11.11 per hour – a move benefitting more than 115,000 colleagues.

In April, the retailer offered employees an advance on their pay to help with the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.

With financial wellbeing app Wagestream, Asda colleagues can access up to 50% of their earned contracted pay when they choose.

Tesco

In April 2023, Tesco made its biggest ever investment in employee pay of £230m as it boosted its hourly rate by 7% to £11.02.

At the same time, the retail giant rolled out further employee pay benefits including an increased additional skills payment for shift leaders, taking their hourly rate to £13.28.

Morrisons

Morrisons increased its hourly pay rates last October, when they raised the established rate for a customer assistant by 50p to £10.92.

M&S

In February 2023, M&S invested £57m to increase the hourly pay of its 40,000 customer assistants across the UK.

The wage, which came into effect on 1 April, marked the retailer’s “biggest ever investment” in front-line colleague reward.

The rate of pay for customer assistants nationally increased 70p to £10.90 per hour and pay rose to £12.05, up from £11.25 for those working in London.

Parents who lose a baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy will be able to apply for a certificate from today to have their grief formally recognised for the first time.

A voluntary scheme for baby loss certificates is being launched by the government to offer greater support to families who experience either an early or late miscarriage.

When a baby is stillborn after 24 weeks, the stillbirth is registered in a process that combines features of both birth and death registration.

However for families who lose a baby during pregnancy before 24 weeks, there has been no formal documentation available that recognises the loss of their child until now.

The introduction of certificates has been welcomed by charities, which have long campaigned for greater recognition for parents who lose a baby in the earlier stages of pregnancy.

While certificates are not compulsory, and parents will be able to choose as to whether they wish to request one or not, the government says it hopes their availability will help bereaved families feel their loss is recognised, that they feel heard and ‘supported through their grief’.

A decision to introduce such a scheme follows recommendations from the Pregnancy Loss Review, which was commissioned in 2018 to consider the registration of pregnancy loss that happens before 24 weeks gestation.

The Review concluded that while it currently may not be possible to prevent many pre-24-week pregnancy losses from happening, much more could be done to ensure grieving parents get excellent care and compassionate support.

Minister for the Women’s Health Strategy, Maria Caulfield said: “We have listened to parents who have gone through what can be an unbelievably painful experience of losing a baby, and that is why today we are introducing baby loss certificates to recognise their loss, as part of our wider long-term plan for women’s health in our country, the Women’s Health Strategy.

“I would like to thank the tireless work of campaigners and charities for their work in supporting this agenda and making the certificates a reality.”

The certificates will be available to either parent, who has experienced the loss of a baby under 24 weeks, since September 1, 2018.

Applicants must be at least 16 years of age, be living in England and have been living in England at the time the baby died.

The certificate is an official but not legal document.

Applications will open from 9am on Thursday, February 22 via the GOV.UK website.

Kate Brintworth, Chief Midwifery Officer for England, NHS England welcomed their introduction.

She said: “Compassionate and personalised care at every stage of pregnancy is vital, and I am pleased that women in England will now be able to access a baby loss certificate which recognises the impact and importance of early pregnancy loss to them and their families.

“The NHS is improving maternity and neonatal bereavement care across England, including by next month bereavement services will be available in almost every NHS Trust, seven days a week for women and families who sadly experience loss.”