Supermarket giant Tesco is offering staff advances in their pay to help them navigate key debt deadlines amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Exterior-of-Tesco-Halifax-store

The retailer said that 280,000 workers can get up to 25% of their contractual pay early under the scheme, with the aim being to help staff avoid taking on debt with soaring interest rates.

In order to access the scheme, workers will have to pay a £1.49 fee per advance to Tesco’s employee benefits partner Salary Finance. They will be allowed one advance per pay period. 

James Goodman, UK and ROI people director at Tesco, said: “We know that colleagues can face unexpected bills, such as car repairs or replacing a washing machine, which can leave them short.

“To give them a helping hand with their financial wellbeing, we have launched Pay Advance to give them a simple and low-cost way to access some of the money they have already earned. We hope this helps to support colleagues, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.”

The move comes just a month after Tesco increased pay for hourly paid staff for the second time this year in response to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. 

It also comes after the autumn statement yesterday in which chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the UK was already in a recession, while inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1%.

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