Next wins key appeal to overturn £30m equal pay ruling

Next has won an appeal allowing it to keep paying warehouse workers a higher hourly rate than shop floor staff in a long running battle over equal pay.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has overturned a key part of a landmark ruling in 2024 which found the retailer was wrong to pay its warehouse staff higher basic pay than shop floor workers for jobs of equal value.

More than 3,500 current and former employees, mainly women, had been set to share potentially more than £30m in back pay as a result of that judgement.

After Next's appeal, the law firm Leigh Day, which represents store workers, described the conclusion on basic pay as "disappointing" and said it will appeal the decision.

The tribunal accepted that Next was justified in paying higher rates because of recruitment and retention pressures for warehouse workers.

Next described the decision as a "landmark victory" succeeding on the "key issue of basic pay".

In a statement, it said: "The importance of this decision is that the Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that it was justifiable for Next to rely on market forces to distinguish between different groups of employees, where there was a good rationale to pay one group more than the other.

"In this case, Next had to pay a higher market rate to warehouse operatives because of recruitment and retention pressures, which did not apply to the workforce in its stores. Next believes this element of the judgment is not only correct in law, but also a victory for common sense.