The John Lewis Partnership is to invest £114m in pay for 65,000 partners across its Waitrose and John Lewis brands this year.

Of this figure, £88m (77%) of the investment is voluntary and is beyond requirements of the National Minimum Wage.

From 1 April, the minimum rate of pay for partners outside London will increase from £11.55 to £12.40 an hour, and from £12.89 to £13.85 for Partners within the M25.

Rates of pay will rise to £13.39 per hour for Partners who gain enhanced skills and take on specialist roles in shops, rising to £14.96 inside the M25.

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Alongside this, Partners who have contributed ‘exceptionally’ to the business will earn additional pay on top of the standard pay increase. This means a customer-facing Partner could receive a pay rise of 9.4%.

Over the last three years the Partnership has invested a total of £295m in colleague pay and the standard hourly rate for Partners in its shops has risen by 25%. 

JLP interim executive director for people Jo Rackham said: “Our Partners are co-owners of our business and their service to our customers is what sets us apart, so we have chosen to make another very significant investment in partner pay this year.

“This signals our continued commitment to our partners’ pay, taking our total investment over the last three years to £295m.”

Earlier this week, Marks and Spencer also unveiled plans 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.