Lidl is to raise its company wide minimum wage for staff and is to open a new 600,000 square foot DC in Avonmouth, just outside Bristol this week.

Some 17,000 Lidl employees are to be affected by the pay rise that takes entry level pay from £8.75 an hour to £9 an hour outside the Greater London area and from £10.20 to £10.55 inside London. This reflects the so-called ‘real minimum wage’ – the amount of money someone needs to live without going into poverty in the UK.

Coming into effect on the 1st March next year the pay rise will mean that entry level Lidl employees are paid 10% more than those on the so-called National Living Wage (previously the Minimum Wage) set by the government in its last Budget.

Chief executive Christian Härtnagel said: “With our newest warehouse opening this week in Avonmouth, and a further five set to open in the coming years, along with our pipeline of new stores, we look forward to welcoming more people into the Lidl team.”

The new regional distribution centre in Avonmouth is twice the size of the current site in Weston-Super-Mare.The other distribution sites in the pipeline are Doncaster, Bolton, Peterborough and Luton.