High street giants facing shareholder revolt over low wages
Investor groups and City giants have teamed up to target high street giants Next, M&S and JD Sports with shareholder resolutions over their low wages.
Seven institutional investors managing over £1 trillion in assets have joined the campaign, including Axa, Scottish Widows and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
The campaign is being led by responsible investment group Shareaction, calling for the companies to disclose exactly how many of their staff are being paid below the Living Wage.
“The UK’s biggest retailers are failing to support their workers with a real Living Wage, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in the sector struggling to make ends meet,” said Shareaction chief Catherine Howarth.
“Companies whose workforce earn less than a real Living Wage are ultimately harming the vitality and growth of the UK economy, with business models that put pressure on workers, their families and the state by adding to health and welfare costs.”
The Living Wage Foundation has estimated that almost a quarter of UK retail workers, or 818,000 people, are not paid a real Living Wage, almost double the national average.
While JD Sports meets the National Living Wage requirement (£12.21 from April 2025), there is no regional pay weighting to reflect differences in the cost of living in more expensive areas such as London, Shareaction said.
Next only pays staff over 21 a National Living Wage, with some regional pay weighting for London, though this does not accurately reflect the difference in the cost-of-living in the area.
Finally, though M&S pays its staff a real Living Wage, it does not guarantee this to third-party contracted staff such as security guards and cleaners.
Shareaction noted that currently, the CEO of Next earns 226 times the pay of its average employee. The CEOs of M&S and JD Sports earn 200 and 88 times their average employee respectively.
The shareholder resolutions will go to a vote at the companies’ annual general meetings, taking place in mid-May for Next and later in the summer for M&S and JD Sports.
A JD spokesperson said: “In the past two years, we have delivered our highest-ever level of investment in our colleagues. Since the beginning of 2023, we have invested over £70m in our workforce, including the removal of age banding pay rates for our more than 9,000 UK colleagues under the age of 21. All JD UK retail colleagues are compensated above the National Living Wage for those aged 21 and above, alongside a comprehensive benefits package available from the first day of employment.”
An M&S spokesperson said: “We are committed to paying our colleagues well. Since 2022 we have invested more than £285 million in our retail pay package, increasing the standard hourly rate by over 26%, double the rate of inflation over the same period. We pay the Real Living Wage, with hourly pay rising to £12.60 nationally and £13.85 in London from the 1 April – irrespective of age. We have some of the most passionate and dedicated colleagues in the industry and as well as paying them well, we also offer a market leading package of benefits including colleague discount, competitive pension and a number of wellbeing benefits.
“We strongly believe that our third party contractors should also pay their employees fairly. We welcome open dialogue with all of our shareholders, including engagement with Shareaction.”
Next declined to comment.