Home Bargains opens consultation with staff over change in pay frequency

The proposed changes will affect staff employed before 2022, as those employed after that point are already paid monthly.

The consultation with affected staff began last week, and Retail Week understands TJ Morris, the company which owns Home Bargains, intends to move the remainder of its staff over to the new pay structure from February 2027.

The retailer operates over 600 stores across the UK, employing some 27,000 staff. While the exact number of staff affected by the proposals is unknown, it is understood to be significant.

Retail Week revealed that Home Bargains had boosted staff pay in April to £13 an hour, a 50p per hour hike for staff on the current rate – putting it among the best-paying retailers in the UK.

However, one former employee told Retail Week that many of the staff are contract workers with limited weekly hours. “Many staff I knew there have two jobs to be able to live when they work at Home Bargains,” they said. “We were paid monthly as well, which made it hard often to get through the month”.

Home Bargains senior management are aware of this fact, with one source close to the business saying that the retailer’s management is concerned about the effect this proposed move will have on staff, some of whom have already communicated to the retailer they live week-to-week on their pay.

To address this, the retailer is offering staff moving to monthly pay interest-free loans to help them make ends meet and is partnering with financial wellbeing app Stream.

Stream bills itself as a platform which offers staff “flexible wage access, savings accounts and financial coaching” as well as access to “fair-rate workplace loans and exclusive brand discounts”.

Home Bargains is not the only retailer using Stream – with the likes of Asda, Superdrug, Savers and the Co-op also offering it to employees as a benefit.

A spokesperson for the retailer declined to comment.