NEWS DIGEST
THIS WEEK’S NEWS FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS, HEAD TO WWW.SLRMAG.CO.UK/CATEGORY/NEWS/
BRUSH WITH SUCCESS
LIVING WAGE UP TO £9.50 LIVING WAGE
Designed by
Alisha Razzaq – Age 8
An eight-year-old girl from Blantyre has been named the Designed by
Alisha Razzaq – Age 8
winner of Spar Scotland’s first ever lorry design competition. Alisha Razzaq from Blantyre will see her design emblazoned on a Spar wagon and also received a goody bag and a framed image of her winning entry.
PAYPOINT ACQUISITIONS PayPoint has bought two
THE LIVING WAGE FOUNDATION HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW RATE OF £9.50 PER HOUR FOR THE ‘REAL’ LIVING WAGE.
The 20p rise means the rate is now 78p more than the Government’s National Living Wage, which is currently £8.72 for those aged 25 and over. A lower rate applies for younger workers. Usdaw General Secretary Paddy Lillis welcomed the increase in Living Wage rates but called for at least £10 per hour for workers of all ages. He said the new rate “clearly shows that the Government’s so-called ‘National Living Wage’ is nothing of the sort.
“We are expecting the Low Pay Commission to announce their recommendations for next year’s minimum wage rates anytime soon and we hope they will follow the example of the Living wage Foundation. Usdaw is calling for a rise in line with the commitment to two-thirds of median earnings, which should be seen as the minimum required to recognise the outstanding contributions of our key workers.”
card payments and card terminal leasing businesses – Handepay and Merchant Rentals – for £70m. The acquisitions will create a combined national card payments business with a customer base of over 30,000 SMEs.
QUAIL GETS NOD Digital headset supplier Quail Digital has been added to the Association of Convenience Stores’ club of trusted suppliers. The company’s headsets are currently used by retailers including Aldi, Lidl and Superdrug.
EROS ADDS CROSSFORD STORE Eros Retail has snapped up another store in Fife, a former Co-op in Crossford near Dunfermline. The store will trade under Eros Retail’s Greens banner, with Greens of Crossford opening its doors to customers for the first time next week. Sitting on the village’s Main Street, the store had been a Co-op since 2012 after the company bought the David Sands chain. The store’s existing team will keep their jobs and, since Greens is serviced by Nisa, Co-op brands will remain on shelves. Locally sourced additions to the offer include products from Wicked Cheesecake and
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Breadwinner. A Fisher & Donaldson bakery concession will be introduced as part of an overhaul of the store, which will also see investment in energy saving technology. Eros boss and former SLR Retailer of the Year Harris Aslam said: “We are thrilled to be opening three new Greens stores in Fife in November and look forward to working very closely with store teams, customers and local suppliers to retain the strong performing elements of the existing stores whilst introducing lots of exciting new products and concessions.”
