Lidl has said it will become the first UK supermarket to implement the minimum wage as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation.
From October, Lidl UK employees will earn a minimum of £8.20 an hour across England, Scotland and Wales, and £9.35 an hour in London, the supermarket said.
However, the pay rise will not apply in Northern Ireland.
The Foundation will announce a change in its recommended rates in November. The rate is different from the National Living Wage as set out in the Budget.
Lidl said that if the Living Wage Foundation raised its recommended rate in its annual announcement in November, Lidl would adjust its minimum wage accordingly.
Currently, Lidl pays its staff a minimum of £7.30 an hour and £8.03 an hour inside London.
The Living Wage Foundation's current recommended minimal hourly rate is £7.85, and £9.15 inside London.
The National Living Wage as required by the UK government, which was set out in George Osborne's July Budget, is set to be £7.20 an hour from April 2016 for people aged over 25.
Lidl said its new pay rate would amount to an average wage increase of £1,200 a year, 'with 53 per cent of Lidl UK's 17,000 workforce and all age brackets benefiting from the rise'.
Lidl in Northern Ireland said it had increased wages in August 'in line with the proposed living wage for Northern Ireland'.However, it has not yet disclosed the minimum rate it pays in Northern Ireland.
The chief executive of Lidl UK, Ronny Gottschlich, told BBC News: 'Lidl employees will be amongst the best paid in the supermarket sector.'
He said the company wanted to share its 'success' with the staff.
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