Aldi is raising its starting pay for store assistants to a minimum of £11.40 per hour nationally and to £12.85 within the M25.

The supermarket said the new £11.40 per hour starting rate, which will come into effect on 1 July, is more than 13% higher than it was a year ago.

Over 28,000 store colleagues will benefit from the increase, which takes Aldi’s investment in pay in the last 12 months to over £100 million.

Earlier this year, the supermarket announced that it would be raising pay rates for around 7,000 warehouse workers by up to 20% from 1 February.

Aldi is planning to create more than 6,000 new jobs this year following the addition of 4,500 permanent roles in 2022. The supermarket has more than 40,000 colleagues and over 990 stores in the UK.