Retail & Consumer

M&S defies National Insurance hike to increase staff pay by 5%

2025-06-27 20:24:02

Marks and Spencer has unveiled a £95m wage boost for its retail personnel, notwithstanding the "cost pressures" emanating from government actions. Beginning 1 April, pay rates for UK Customer Assistants will climb from £12 to £12.60 an hour, marking a 5% year-on-year increase and a 26% rise since 2022 — surpassing the government's new national living wage of £12.21 per hour, as reported by City AM. M&S Chief Executive Stuart Machin commented, "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." He further stated, "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. "This means we have now invested almost £300m in our pay over the past three years, well above the rate of inflation, in addition to our market-leading discount and pension offer for colleagues," he added. Before this declaration, Marks and Spencer predicted that the uptick in employers' national insurance (NICs) would push their wage bill up by £120m — a number anticipated to grow. The NIC changes, notably the lower threshold adjustment, took many businesses by surprise, especially those dependent on part-time work in sectors such as hospitality and retail. According to research by UKHospitality, changes to national insurance contributions (NICs) will result in an additional £2,500 expense for employing the average worker. Earlier this year, M&S joined a prominent group of retailers in cautioning the Treasury that hundreds of thousands of retail jobs were under threat due to unsustainable cost increases. At the time, Machin expressed that "retail is being raided like a piggy bank and it's unacceptable".