Next has won an equal pay appeal allowing it to pay warehouse workers more than shop-floor staff, warning that its defeat “would have represented a hammer blow to retail employment in the UK”.
The FTSE 100 retailer was justified in paying its warehouse operatives a better rate, the Appeal Tribunal has found, citing recruitment and retention pressures that do not apply to sales workers.
More than 3,500 current and former Next staff won a six-year legal fight against the retailer in 2024, netting a payout estimated to be worth more than £30m.
The successful appeal “affirms a principle at the heart of any effective employment market – that employers must be able to pay what is necessary to recruit the people they need; and that doing so does not oblige them to raise the pay of other employees where there is no reason to do so,” the firm told its shareholders on Monday.
“This judgment has come at the right time, the UK economy desperately needs jobs and the loss of this appeal would have represented a hammer blow to retail employment in the UK,” the group added.
More to follow.