Which offer
On the table now · Meeting 1 · 02 June 2026

The latest offer.
The numbers, plainly.

An informal, one-year, "no-strings" offer — a rise on the basic hourly rate, with no hours cut, no break cut, and your night premium unchanged. Here are the numbers for every contract. Decide for yourself.

It is titled "Meeting 1." If this is meeting one, what was the meeting that brought the earlier proposal — meeting zero? If we count that first proposal as the "pay cut," then this is arguably the first realistic offer — a starting point.
REJECTED BY THE UNION USDAW · BRANCH K041
What it adds — per contract

Pick your contract.

All on your current full hours — nothing is taken away. Hover or tap any figure to see how it's worked out and where it's from.

A 1-year deal on the basic rate. Your hours, breaks and night premium (C.I.) do not change.
Source: Branch K041 Committee — Wage Meeting 1 (02/06/2026).
Basic hourly rate
Now
Meeting 1 offer
Your pay goes up by
Per week
Per 4-week period
Per year
For comparison: CPI is about 3% and RPI 4.2% (ONS, Jan–Apr 2026). The headline % for your contract is shown above.
Try a different number

What would another rise be worth?

Each slider starts at this offer. Drag it to any figure and see what it would add to your pay — weekly, every four weeks, and a year, on your full current hours. A what-if tool: you decide where you'd want to be.

Legacy and 2nd Gen share a pay gap. Raising Legacy's % widens it; raising 2nd Gen's closes it (Clerical is separate). This offer narrows the gap to about £0.40/hr — watch it change on the 2nd Gen card.
Legacy£14.73/hr
If the rise were+3.6%
Per week
Per 4-week period
Per year
New basic rate:
Lead over 2nd Gen:
Back-pay so far (from 5 Mar, after tax & NI)
2nd Gen£14.23/hr
If the rise were+4.4%
Per week
Per 4-week period
Per year
New basic rate:
Behind Legacy:
Back-pay so far (from 5 Mar, after tax & NI)
Clerical£13.90/hr
If the rise were+3%
Per week
Per 4-week period
Per year
New basic rate:
Back-pay so far (from 5 Mar, after tax & NI)
Back-pay runs from 5 March (the pay anniversary). If a rise were agreed and backdated, this is roughly what you'd be owed so far — after tax and National Insurance (≈28%) — and it climbs every hour you work, and as you raise the slider. An estimate on full-time hours.
Worked on your current basic rate and full hours (about 40 a week, 2,080 a year). The offer on the table is the starting point of each slider.
What the last year did to your bills

Your rise, against this year's prices.

Your offer is +3.6% (Legacy), +4.4% (2nd Gen) or +3% (Clerical). Here's what the essentials around you have done over the latest year on record — in pounds, with sources. We don't tell you what to make of it; the numbers are yours to weigh.

These are the most recent figures on record — the closest-to-today data the official statistics give us, since this year isn't over yet. The point is simple: how does this offer sit against what life costs right now?
Gas & electricity
Under the Ofgem cap a typical bill is about £1,641 a year now — but from 1 July 2026 it jumps 13% to £1,862 (+£221), which Ofgem puts down to higher gas prices from the conflict in the Middle East. The cap eased through 2025 (about £1,850 last spring), so year-on-year it's roughly flat — but it's now rising again. (Ofgem, 2026)
Fuel
Petrol is about 158.7p a litre and diesel 184.1p now — up from roughly 133p and 143p a year ago (about +26p and +41p a litre), after the February-2026 Iran conflict hit oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz. On a 100-mile-a-week commute that's about £3 a week more than a year ago. (GOV.UK / RAC, 2026)
The weekly shop
Food prices are up about 3% over the last year (to April 2026) — down from a 5.1% peak in summer 2025, and far below the 19% spike of 2023. On a roughly £80 weekly shop that's about £2.40 a week more than a year ago (~£125 a year). (ONS, 2026)
Council tax
The average Band D bill in England rose this April from £2,280 to £2,392 — about £112 more this year (+4.9%). (GOV.UK, 2026)
More household bills
It's not just these: average UK rent is up 3.5% over the last year (ONS), the typical water bill rises £33 (+5.4%) from April, most broadband and mobile deals add £3–£4 a month, and the TV licence is up to £180. In fairness, not everything rose — regulated rail fares are frozen this year (the first freeze in 30 years) and the £3 bus-fare cap is held. (ONS / Water UK / Ofcom / GOV.UK, 2026)
Across everything, prices rose about 2.8% in the year to April 2026 (CPI). Set against that, this offer is +3.6% (Legacy), +4.4% (2nd Gen) and +3% (Clerical) — with energy and fuel climbing again. Whether it keeps pace is for you to decide. (ONS, 2026)
Sources — energy: Ofgem price cap (2026). Fuel: GOV.UK weekly road-fuel prices / RAC (June 2026). Food & prices: ONS CPI (to April 2026). Council tax: GOV.UK Council Tax levels, England (2026/27). Full list in the footer below.
Pay around the sector

How this year's offer compares.

How does a +3% to +4.4% rise sit among this year's pay deals? Here's what the big employers settled for 2026, with the official benchmarks. Switch between the headline % rise and the starting hourly rate.

Sainsbury's gave its own store and Argos colleagues a 5% rise this year, to £13.23/hr. This depot offer — a separate negotiation — is +3% to +4.4%.
For context on the ability to pay: Sainsbury's reported £718m underlying profit for the year to February 2026, grocery sales up 5.2%, and raised its dividend. (J Sainsbury plc, Apr 2026)
Versus the first proposal
The first proposal was a 2-year deal with a higher headline rate, but 130 paid hours a year cut, a shorter break and a £1,000 one-off. Meeting 1 keeps your full hours and takes nothing away, for one year.
Every bar is a confirmed 2026 settlement or an official benchmark — not an estimate. Where this offer sits is for you to judge.
Sources — supermarket pay: Usdaw, The Grocer & company press releases (2026). Warehouse: Amazon UK & Unite. Benchmarks: Low Pay Commission (NLW) & ONS (average earnings). Sainsbury's results: J Sainsbury plc. Full list in the footer.
Retail performance

Who's actually winning.

Pay sits on top of performance. Here's how the big grocers are doing — market share, growth and profit. Those sales move through depots like this one.

GB grocery market share
Tesco27.6%
Sainsbury's16.3%
Asda11.4%
Aldi10.8%
Lidl8.6%
Morrisons8.3%
Co-op5.1%
Waitrose4.7%
Kantar / Worldpanel by Numerator, 12-week shares (late 2025 – May 2026); they shift a little month to month. Sainsbury's is highlighted.
Sainsbury's is the UK's number-two grocer (about 16%), having overtaken Asda in 2024. It says its food volumes have grown ahead of the market for six years running — its highest volume share in a decade — with grocery sales +5.2%, online +13%, and £718m underlying profit (year to Feb 2026). (J Sainsbury plc / Kantar, 2026)
Tesco leads on about 28%. The discounters keep rising — Aldi and Lidl together now hold nearly a fifth of the market, and Lidl has just overtaken Morrisons. Asda's share has slipped from about 13% to 11% and it posted a statutory loss; Morrisons also made a statutory loss. (Kantar / company results, 2025–2026)
Those sales are picked, packed and moved through depots like Haydock. What strong, growing performance is worth at the table is for you to weigh.
Sources — Kantar / Worldpanel by Numerator (GB grocery market share, 2025–2026); company annual results (Tesco, J Sainsbury plc, Asda, Morrisons, Lidl GB, M&S). Full list in the footer.
In the committee's words

The letter this offer came in.

This is the Branch K041 Committee's note to members, dated 02/06/2026, reproduced in full and unedited. It also shows where the offer came from — the committee asked for more, and talks are set to continue.

02/06/2026 · Formal Wage Negotiations Meeting 1

Dear Members,

The committee held its first formal wage meeting with Champs Ghosh today (02/06/2026). You are aware, an informal proposal was brought to us by our depot manager for your consideration to see if there was any appetite from the membership to explore further. The first point on our wage meeting today was asking for feedback from our members.

We informed the depot manager that our members have spoken to the reps over the week. The responses were: some would like the discussions on being able to finish 30mins earlier each shift to continue but believe the pay increase should be significantly higher, some members (predominantly pickers) do not want to reduce their rest breaks and that 1 x 30min break would cause them fatigue, some do not like any part of the proposal and just want a no strings deal.

We asked Champs to improve the monetary value of his proposal before we could consider taking it to our members at a branch meeting, we asked for the monetary value to be £16.30 per hour on the basic hourly rate (for legacy contract / maintaining the pay gap to 2nd Gen) and for this to be a 1-year deal offer.

Champs said he cannot reach £16.30 p/h

We informed Champs that without a significant pay increase on a 1-year deal, the majority of our members would not vote to accept this through a ballot and we asked Champs to put a 1-year no strings deal on the table.

Champs has made an offer, this will go to a committee meeting to decide if it is suitable to be put to the members via a ballot.

The offer:

  • 3.6% increase on legacy basic hourly rate - £14.73 p/h increased to £15.26 p/h (= £0.53p p/h increase)
  • 4.4% increase on 2nd Gen basic hourly rate - £14.23 p/h increased to £14.86 p/h (= £0.63p p/h increase) (reducing operative contracts pay gap to £0.40p p/h)
  • 3% pay increase on clerical basic hourly rate - £13.90 p/h increased to £14.32 p/h. Champs has maintained his one off offer, giving clerical colleagues who transferred from operative contracts in 2022 a choice to return to a legacy operative contract / Clerical colleagues who took up a clerical contract post 2022 a choice to move to a 2nd Gen operative contract

Pay talks will continue and we will endeavour to keep you updated as they progress

Thank you for your continued support

Kind regards
Branch K041 Committee

In short: the committee asked for £16.30/hr (legacy) on a one-year deal; the manager said he couldn't reach that, and £15.26 is what came back. The committee's own words are that "pay talks will continue." That's why "Meeting 1" reads as a starting point — a first realistic offer to build on, and a record of it.