Marks and Spencer is to spend £95m on its biggest-ever investment in colleague pay.

From 1 April, the rate of pay for UK customer assistants will increase from £12 to £12.60 per hour, representing a 5% rise on last year and a 26% increase since 2022.

For a full-time colleague outside London, this equates to an increase of around £98 per month compared to today’s current rate.

For the retailer’s customer assistants working in London, the hourly rate will increase from £13.15 to £13.85, representing a 5.3% uplift on last year.

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For UK team support managers, the hourly rate will rise from £13.05 to £13.65. For those in London, it will increase from £14.20 to £14.90.

Last year, M&S invested £89m in UK retail pay alongside a further £5m annually to enhance its maternity, paternity, and adoption policies. The 2025 investment means that since 2022, M&S has invested more than £285m in pay packages.

The change to pay also means that every UK store colleague will continue to be paid the Real Living Wage as their base pay. 

M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Following the government’s recent increases in tax and national insurance contributions, it’s no secret that M&S and indeed the entire retail sector has some significant cost headwinds to face into in the new financial year.

“However, I have always believed that we should not allow these headwinds to impact our hourly paid colleagues, which is why today, for the third year in a row, we are making a record investment in our retail pay offer.”

Last month, Aldi increased hourly pay rates for store assistants in a move it claimed would make it  “Britain’s best-paying supermarket”.

As of 1 March, hourly rates increased to at least £12.75 nationally at the discounter, rising to £13.66 based on length of service, and to at least £14.05 within the M25, rising to £14.35.