Iceland Foods staff receive 5% pay rise

Food chain Iceland Foods says its staff will receive a basic pay rise of 5% this year in what the company calls an inflation-beating increase.

The Flintshire-based retailer claimed the total annual cost of the extra wages will be £14.6m.

The company, which employs 22,000, is also changing the pay structure, including the removal of a lower rate for staff aged under 18.

The company says shop staff have seen pay rise by 33.7% since 2005.

It also says delivery staff have seen an increase of almost 50%.

Chief executive Malcolm Walker, one of the company's original founders in 1970, said: "Since my colleagues and I returned to Iceland in 2005 we have made great strides in improving staff morale and working conditions, and significantly increasing pay rates.

"In total over these six years we have raised the hourly pay rate for store staff by 33.7% and for home delivery drivers by 49.8%.

"As a result, our front line staff have moved from minimum wage rates to being among the very best paid on the high street."

Iceland, based at Deeside, was ranked the sixth best big company to work for in the UK in the annual Sunday Times Best Companies survey 2011.