Aldi has pledged that it will never be beaten on pay by any other supermarket as the discount supermarket bumps its hourly rates for the second time this year.

The new pay increase will see the national minimum rate for store assistants and deputy store managers rise from £12 to £12.40, and from £13.55 to £13.65 for those within the M25.

Aldi claims its £12.40 base rate is the highest level of entry pay by a British supermarket, according to Retail Gazette.

The second pay increase takes the supermarket's investment into pay this year to £79m.

There are seven Aldi stores in Gloucestershire.

Giles Hurley, Aldi UK and Ireland CEO said: "We firmly believe that our colleagues are the best in the business, so it is only right that they remain the best-paid and we are committed to never being beaten on pay by any other supermarket.

"Our Store Operations colleagues play an integral part in our ever-increasing popularity among shoppers and our continued investment in their pay is another way to thank them for the role they play in making Aldi what it is today."

It comes as Tesco revealed last week it is investing £300m into staff pay by raising the hourly rates by 9.1% to £12.02 in April.