Blackburn Issa brothers owned Asda to hand staff 10% pay rise

This means rates will rise from the current rate of £10.10 to £11 per hour from April 2 and £11.11 per hour from July 2.

Those working inside the M25 will see their hourly rate rise from the current £11.27 to £12.17 from April 2 before increasing again from July 2 to £12.28.

The supermarket is investing £141 million this year to boost hourly pay rates for more than 115,000 colleagues who work across its 633 stores.

The superstore was acquired by Blackburn brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa in October 2020 alongside partners TDR Capital as part of a £6.8billion deal.

Some Asda colleagues will receive a 10% pay rise this year (Image: Richard Walker/Asda)

This follows an 8% pay increase for hourly-paid retail roles during 2022.

It doesn’t stop there though as all eligible hourly-paid store colleagues who have worked with Asda for at least three months will be given a bonus payment for 2022.

The bonus amount will be confirmed at the end of February with colleagues receiving it in March.

The new rates of pay, which exceed the Government’s National Living Wage and the Real Living Wage recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, were agreed with Usdaw, the trade union that holds the mandate to negotiate with Asda on retail pay in Northern Ireland.

The new rates will also apply to retail colleagues across the UK.

Mohsin Issa, Asda’s Co-owner, said: “We appreciate the great job that our store colleagues do representing Asda while serving customers day in and day out.

“We know that rising living costs are affecting customers and colleagues alike and recognise we have a responsibility to support them during these challenging times. This is why we have made a record investment of £141m to increase pay for retail colleagues by 10% this year.”

Asda has also launched a new initiative where it will lock prices of 600 products (Image: Richard Walker/Asda)

To provide extra support to customers as the cost of living crisis continues, Asda is launching a new initiative (from February 21 to May 31) to lock the prices of 600 popular branded and own-label products, more than half of which are fresh meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable products.

The supermarket is also helping customers with the launch of an exclusive partnership with Quaker Oats to offer children a free warm breakfast in any of its 205 cafes during the February half-term holidays.

The offer means families can access both a free children’s breakfast and a main meal for just £1 in all Asda cafes.

Last month, the supermarket confirmed the extension of its Kids’ £1 meals and over 60’s Winter Warmer £1 café deals which will now run until the end of March.

Both offers have proved to be popular with customers and more than 1.1 million meals have been served since the launch in July 2022.