B&Q, the leading home improvement and garden living retailer, has announced it will be investing significantly to increase its UK minimum hourly rate to ÂŁ12.21 per hour, and its London rate to up to ÂŁ13.55 per hour.
This increase of 8% is well ahead of inflation and the government’s 2024 national living wage of ÂŁ11.44 per hour, and builds on an 8.9% year on year increase last year.
Starting from April 2024, 16,500 B&Q colleagues will get an extra 90p per hour – worth over £1,700 more a year for a full-time colleague.
At £12.21 per hour, B&Q’s minimum hourly rate of pay is now the highest of all major UK retailers. It is also 77p per hour above the government’s national living wage (£11.44 per hour) and 21p per hour above the Real Living Wage (£12.00 per hour).
Whilst the government’s national minimum wage rate differs by age, as a multigenerational employer B&Q believes everyone deserves the same pay for the work they do regardless of age. B&Q will therefore pay the same minimum hourly rate to all colleagues aged 18 years old and over. This includes apprentices, who receive the same pay as other colleagues doing the same role.
Graham Bell, CEO, B&Q said: “We want to strengthen the competitiveness of our pay position in the market so that we continue to attract and retain the colleagues we need to serve our customers and help them improve their homes.
“From April, we’ll be increasing pay for our Customer Advisors by 8% to £12.21 per hour, which for full-time colleagues is worth over £1,700 more a year. This increase means our minimum hourly rate has increased by over 27% in the last 3 years and is currently the highest of any major UK retailer.
“We highly value our front-line colleagues and hope this new hourly rate demonstrates that.
Rewarding our colleagues fairly is an important factor in helping us to deliver growth for the business as well as continuing improvement of our customers’ shopping experience, both in store and online.”
Colleagues at B&Q are eligible for a number of benefits, including a 20% B&Q discount (which rises to 30% for energy efficient products), an award-winning pension scheme with up to 14% employer contributions, and access to shopping discounts with a number of other retailers and entertainment brands, including essential retailers for grocery shopping.
