Tesco is offering 280,000 workers advances on their pay to help with the added financial pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.
As a result, the leading retailer is providing workers with up to 25% of their pay early in a bid to help staff avoid getting into debt and resorting to payday loans.
This comes as UK inflation rose to a 40-year high at 11.1% in October as food prices continue to soar.
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Last month, salaried Tesco workers were forced to take a pay cut in real-terms as it looked to offer larger wage increases for lower-paid workers.
The supermarket said that the basic hourly rate of pay in Tesco stores would increase by 20p to £10.30 (or £10.98 in London), taking the total pay rise this year to 8%.
“We know that colleagues can face unexpected bills, such as car repairs or replacing a washing machine, which can leave them short,” Tesco UK people director, James Goodman said.
“To give them a helping hand with their financial wellbeing, we have launched Pay Advance to give them a simple and low cost way to access some of the money that they have already earned. We hope this helps to support colleagues, particularly in the run up to Christmas.”
This comes as over 700 workers at a factory which makes own-brand products for supermarket giants Tesco, Sainsbury’s Morrisons and M&S and are set to strike for five weeks in a dispute over pay.
