It has been announced today that popular Swedish furniture company Ikea will pay its staff more than the National Living Wage from April 2016.
The new compulsory living wage, announced by George Osborne, is £7.20 an hour and Ikea will be paying its 9,000 UK staff at least £7.85 an hour, with the potential to increase to more than £9 an hour by 2020.
Director of the Living Wage Foundation, Rhys Moore said: "This is a huge step for the British retail sector and we hope that many other businesses will follow the leadership IKEA is showing on the issue of basic pay."
As well as increasing the hourly pay in the UK, Ikea said last year it would do the same in the US by increasing the wage by $1.59 an hour to £10.76 (£6.89).
The Swedish firm is the UK’s largest furniture retailer and has plans to open more stores in areas such as Reading, Exeter, Greenwich and Sheffield.
