"Leigh Day launch £4bn equal pay claim against TESCO", 7 Feb 2018 

Law firm Leigh Day have announced that legal proceedings have begun in the first equal pay claims against Tesco in what is potentially the largest ever equal pay challenge in UK history, which could cost the supermarket giant £4bn to compensate workers.

Lawyers argue that employees working in the predominantly male dominated distribution centres are paid considerably more than the largely female staffed Tesco stores, and may earn in excess of £11.00 an hour whilst the most common grade for store staff sees them receive around £8.00 per hour.

This disparity could see a full time distribution worker on the same hours earning over £100 a week, or £5000 a year more than female based store staff.

According to Leigh Day, who have already started submitting claims on behalf of their clients through ACAS, the first stage in the Employment Tribunal process, the underpayment of workers could apply to in excess of 200,000 Tesco employees, with estimated pay shortfalls that could reach £20,000, the final bill for Tesco could be as high as £4bn.