Supermarket and high-street employers across Britain are preparing to lift entry-level pay to around £13 an hour from April, a shift that will push many shopfloor roles above the legal national minimum and close to the independently calculated Real Living Wage. According to Herald Scotland, retailers including Primark, Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury's and M&S have announced or are reported to be adopting a new "£13 rule" for starting hourly rates as the national minimum wage rises to £12.71 in April. Industry moves of this scale follow months of pressure on employers to raise pay amid rising living costs.

Primark has said it will set a floor of £13 an hour for customer assistants across England, Scotland and Wales from 1 April, with a higher London rate of £13.71. Aldi has told staff its national starting rate will be £13.50 and that London roles will be paid around £14.88. Lidl has indicated its base rate will start at about £13.45 nationally, with progression to higher bands over time and elevated London rates for experienced staff. Herald Scotland’s reporting forms the basis of these company-level figures.

Tesco’s pay adjustments have been more contested in recent months and provide important context for the sector-wide changes. In March 2024 Tesco reached a deal with the Usdaw union to raise its basic hourly rate to £12.02 for store and fulfilment staff, a package that the union described as a record investment worth more than £300 million. The company later faced criticism when an implementation timetable prompted claims of a temporary shortfall versus the statutory minimum; Tesco said the timing followed HMRC guidance on pay reference periods and stressed the new rate would sit above the Real Living Wage. The supermarket has also confirmed enhanced family and sick-pay benefits as part of the settlement.

Aldi has continued to tweak pay independently of scheduled statutory rises. In January 2026 the chain announced an incremental increase for shopfloor staff, taking starting pay from roughly £13.02 to about £13.35 before the government’s April uplift. Aldi’s management framed the step as an investment in colleagues ahead of the statutory change, meaning employees would benefit from compound increases when the national minimum wage rose to £12.71.

For workers at other national chains, the headline numbers vary: Sainsbury’s has indicated a national hourly rate in the mid-£14s, Marks & Spencer is reported to be raising its rates to around £13.41 outside London and to higher bands within the capital, and Tesco has signalled north-of-£13 starting points for some roles once its pay adjustments are fully rolled out. These reported figures reflect differing pay structures, regional supplements and progression schemes across retailers.

Taken together, the announcements underline a new baseline in retail pay that employers say is necessary to recruit and retain staff in a tight labour market. Campaigners who advocate for the Living Wage note that the independent Real Living Wage, calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, remains higher than some of the new employer minima, and they argue broader adoption of that figure is still needed to meet the real cost of living. Retailers counter that pay rises are being balanced against other operating pressures and are often accompanied by enhanced benefits and career progression commitments.