Discount chain Lidl has announced its seventh pay rise since 2023.

The German-owned group’s £29 million investment in pay rises will see entry-level pay rise to £13.45 an hour nationwide, increasing to £14.45 with length of service, from March 1. New starter pay in London will also increase from £14.35 to £14.80, rising to £15.30 with length of service.

The group, which employs more than 35,000 workers, claimed it was once again the “highest paying UK supermarket” following the moves.

It comes ahead of the national minimum wage rising by 50p from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over from April 1.

Lidl said it was also doubling paternity leave from two to four weeks’ full pay, which will rise to eight weeks’ full paid leave after five years of service.

Stephanie Rogers, chief people officer at Lidl, said: “Our colleagues are the backbone of our business, and their success is our success.”

“We are continuing to mark unprecedented growth across Great Britain, creating thousands more jobs along the way, while continuing to invest in our people,” she added.

On the paternity leave changes, she said: “We believe that a longer period of paid paternity leave is a vital step on our journey towards gender equality in the workplace.”

Lidl revealed plans earlier this year to open 19 stores over the next eight weeks, which will create up to 640 jobs.

The group last year hit the milestone of opening its 1,000th store as it looks to add around another 40 sites in the year to February 28.

Lidl is currently Britain’s sixth-largest grocery chain, according to experts at Worldpanel, after making the biggest market share gains in the sector in recent months.

Recent figures from the group showed it enjoyed a strong Christmas, with a 10 per cent surge in sales seeing it notch up more than £1.1 billion in turnover in the four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve.