Spanish bank Sabadell has announced it is to pay UK staff of subsidiary TSB a one-off £1,000 bonus. About 4,000 employees will receive the award.
The majority of the recipients will receive £500 in October and a further £500 in April, a spokesperson for Sabadell said, adding that senior executives and management would not be entitled to the bonus, which is linked to the cost of living crisis.
Several British lenders have similarly given thousands of their staff a one-off sum or a pay rise to help them cope with soaring prices, including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and the UK arm of Santander.
Fuel company Shell, however, is paying a one-off 8% bonus to tens of thousands of staff because of the company’s huge profits rather than the cost of living crisis.
Trade union Unite had been working with the bank to secure the payout and said the award would help people deal with the soaring cost of energy, food and other bills subject to inflation.
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National officer Caren Evans said: “Unite was able to successfully demonstrate to TSB that the lowest paid members of staff are struggling to meet their costs of living.
“The agreement announced today is welcome news for over 4,000 staff, and the £1,000 payment will be given to all those regardless of whether they are full- or part-time workers.”
A spokesman for TSB said: “We know that the rising cost of living is a concern for many of our colleagues.”
The group added that the payment was in addition to a salary increase and bonuses already paid in March 2022, which saw it hike its lowest starting salary to £21,000 a year.
Retailer Aldi also announced on Monday that it will give its 26,000 store workers across the UK their second pay rise since the start of the year as inflation continues to surge.
The German discounter, which runs 970 UK supermarkets, said store assistants will see their minimum pay increase to £10.50 an hour, and £11.95 for those in London.
Households are set to come under severe financial pressure this year, with CPI inflation already running at 9.9% and expected to surge above 11% in the autumn when the energy price cap is hiked once again.
Some economists believe inflation may reach around 12% in October.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England has signalled that another rise in interest rates is imminent.
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