Nationwide offering 11,000 workers bonus worth £1,200 to help with bills

Nationwide is offering 11,000 workers bonuses worth up to £1,200 to help with bills amid the cost of living crisis.

The one-off staff bonus will be given to around 61 percent of its workforce, which is around 11,000 staff members, and will be split into two payments worth £600 in October and December.

However, it has also been announced that senior members of the work force, who earn over £35,000, will not benefit from the pay boost.

Other banking giants have also underwent their own cost-of-living bonuses, with HSBC, Lloyds Bank and Barclays among the companies that recently confirmed they would top up staff salaries as UK workers see their wages lag behind inflation.

"The months ahead will be worrying for many people and we're always considering new ways to help our members," said Debbie Crosbie, chief executive officer of Nationwide.

"But rising prices affect our colleagues too, and that's why we're providing this additional support."

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Nationwide have also joined the likes of Barratt, Taylor Wimpey, Lloyds and Rolls-Royce, which are part of the five percent of businesses with 250 or more employees who have offered a one-off cost-of-living payment to their workers in the last three months, according to an Office for National Statistics' Business Insights report.

Jane Gratton, head of people policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The cost-of-living crisis is having a dual impact on people and their employers.

"Businesses are doing all they can to support staff through this difficult time, including awarding cost-of-living increases where possible.

"But firms are facing an unprecedented tidal wave of rising costs - including energy, and raw materials.

"Smaller firms, especially, are simply not in a position to absorb this inflationary whirlwind and have much less scope to increase staff pay and benefits.

"We are very concerned that prices are rising and investment is falling.

"That's why we need to see action by government to relieve some of the crippling pressures that businesses are facing.

"Cutting the VAT on energy bills from 20% to 5% would give them some vital breathing space."

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100,000 people have also signed up to a campaign calling for a cut in energy prices and a major pay rise for millions of workers within the first 24 hours of it launching.

The Enough is Enough campaign has a list of five demands they believe will help tackle the cost of living crisis millions of people have been plunged into.

They want a rise in the minimum wage with a view to making it £15 an hour along with a public sector pay rise and an 'inflation busting' increase in pensions and benefits.

To go with a pay rise the campaign is calling for a cut in energy bills back to pre-April 2022 levels when the average household was paying £1,277 per year for power.