Aldi has increased the pay level for around 26,000 store colleagues for a second time this year.

From September, all hourly paid staff members at the supermarket’s stores will receive an uplift of 40 pence per hour on their current hourly rate.

The move will take Aldi’s minimum pay rates for store assistants to £10.50 an hour nationally and £11.95 for those working inside the M25 motorway.

The new rates exceed the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended real living wage of £9.90 an hour nationally and £11.05 inside the M25.

Aldi operates more than 970 stores across the UK.