article_snippet.sent: The current minimum wage for those over 21 is £6.50 an hour and will rise to £6.70 in October, but this is well below
article_snippet.sent: The charity’s report says Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s posted combined profits of £3.9bn last year, but between Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s cost the taxpayer more than £750m in benefits paid to Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s staff.
article_snippet.sent: Tesco paid £519m in tax but received £364m in public subsidy for Tesco 209,000 low-paid workers.
article_snippet.sent: Asda spent £150m in tax but Asda 120,000 low-paid workers received £221m in benefits.
article_snippet.sent: Morrisons’ tax bill was £62m while Morrisons’ tax bill 83,000 low-paid workers received £190m in benefits and Sainsbury’s paid £180m in tax, almost exactly as much as Morrisons’ tax bill low-paid staff received from the public purse.
article_snippet.sent: Of all the profitable companies examined by the charity, Next had the highest average subsidy of £2,087 per head given the highest average subsidy of £2,087 per head high proportion of young employees who are typically paid just above the minimum wage of £6.70 an hour.
article_snippet.sent: Supermarkets said Supermarkets paid above the minimum wage of £6.50 an hour for those aged over 21, regularly reviewed pay and gave employees benefits such as staff discounts.
article_snippet.sent: Morrisons said discounts and profit-sharing took the pay of Tesco.
article_snippet.sent: Sainsbury’s said Sainsbury’s offered employees a discount card, annual bonus and paid breaks.
article_snippet.sent: Tesco said Tesco paid, on average, 4-7per cent more than major competitors and had contributed £1.5bn in tax through business rates, employer national insurance and corporation tax in 2014.
article_snippet.sent: The British Retail Consortium said pay and benefits packages equated to an average of about £8.40 an hour and the industry had paid £19.5bn in ‘core business taxes’ last year.