Supermarket workers reveal true cost of unequal pay, as progress towards pay equality drags on

In a survey of more than 4,500 female supermarket workers, the majority reported that pay inequality is affecting their mental health, limiting financial security, and leaving them feeling undervalued compared with male colleagues in distribution centres.  

The results have been published on Equal Pay Day - the point of the year when, if women’s average hourly pay is compared to men’s, women in the UK effectively work for free for the rest of the year. 

Law firm Leigh Day, which represents over 100,000 supermarket workers across Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-op in some of Great Britain’s largest equal pay claims, surveyed female shop floor workers about the effects of unequal pay. 

Emotional and mental toll 

Half of all the female respondents reported that pay inequality has damaged their mental health or wellbeing. Many said the issue has affected their confidence, their sense of fairness, and their overall motivation at work, with one woman adding that equal pay would have brought “fewer sleepless nights worrying about bills”.  

Impact on financial security 

When asked what equal pay would have meant for them over the past year, women reported the effects on their financial resilience: 

• 61% said they would have been able to save money.
• 50% said they could have reduced personal debt.
• 25% said they could have afforded a holiday.
• 11% said they would have been able to invest.
• 6% said equal pay would have enabled them to afford childcare.

One worker said equal pay would have meant “being able to afford essentials without going to a food bank”. Others said they wouldn’t have needed to work second jobs. 

Feeling undervalued at work 

Seventy-eight per cent of women said they do not believe their supermarket values their work equally to that of male colleagues in distribution centres, highlighting a significant disconnect between shop floor workers and their employers. One woman said: “We are supposed to be one team - we are clearly not." Another added they wanted to “challenge inequality, to support change for future workers and get recognition” for the value of their work. 

Human cost behind the numbers 

Many women described the knock-on effects of equal pay on their families:

• “This would have enabled me to feed my children better.”
• “As a single mother, I could have given my son a better birthday and Christmas.”
• “I could have afforded private care for my mother.”

Some said equal pay might have prevented long-term harm. One worker said: “I could have reduced my hours after having breast cancer - the medication has serious side effects.” 

Others detailed life-altering consequences of low pay, including housing insecurity, with one worker explaining equal pay would have meant avoiding being “on the brink of homelessness”. 

A fight driven by fairness 

When asked why they joined the equal pay claim, 85% of women cited fairness, making it clear that the issue extends beyond pounds and pence. A further 39% said they joined to stand up for their legal rights, 31% because of financial need, and 25% in solidarity with colleagues. 

Leigh Day launched its first equal pay claim against Asda in 2014. The firm now represents workers across Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-op. Lawyers argue that shop-floor roles - predominantly carried out by women - are of equal value to the predominantly male-held distribution-centre roles, yet attract lower hourly pay. 

Workers say the claims highlight longstanding gendered assumptions about “women’s work” and structural undervaluation of roles requiring emotional intelligence, customer care, and frontline judgement. 

With household budgets continuing to tighten and Equal Pay Day moving only marginally this year, employment lawyers at Leigh Day have warned that the slow progress on achieving equal pay is leaving large numbers of women shouldering avoidable financial strain. 

Paula Lee, employment partner at Leigh Day, said: 

“These results lay bare what unequal pay really means for women - missed savings, growing debt, pressure on families, and a damaging impact on mental health. At a time when the cost of living continues to bite, thousands of women are doing vital, skilled and customer-facing work but feel undervalued compared with their male colleagues in distribution centres. 

“For more than a decade, supermarket employers have delayed addressing this inequality. Our clients are clear - this is about fairness, respect, and recognition of the work they do every single day. As Equal Pay Day reminds us, progress is painfully slow. These claims show why change is overdue in the retail sector.” 

Each year the Fawcett Society calculates Equal Pay Day based on the gender pay gap, the difference between the average hourly pay of women and men, as a proportion of men’s pay. 

This year in the UK Equal Pay Day lands on 22 November, only two days later than it landed in 2024. This shows that progress towards equal pay is not moving fast enough, says the Fawcett Society, the UK charity championing gender equality and women’s rights at work. 

Despite a marginal shift in the national gender pay gap from 11.3% in 2024 to 10.9% in 2025, the Fawcett Society says progress towards equal pay has effectively stalled. For many women working on shop floors, that stagnation is being felt in their pockets, homes, and wellbeing against the backdrop of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis. 

Penny East, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, said: 

“Fawcett has campaigned to close the gender pay gap for decades. Unfortunately, after years of progress, this has stalled in the last five years. Across the country, women are still paid less than their male counterparts. Here, we see why it matters so much. This is not about statistics, it about real women's lives. Paying women less than they deserve has real-life consequences on a woman's wellbeing, self-worth, and her ability to live safely and independently.  

“The government has an almighty economic challenge on its hands. Women must be at the forefront of the plans to boost productivity. Paying and treating women equally and fairly at work is not just a moral issue, it's an economic and social one. We need government to act with far greater ambition and urgency to close the pay gap once and for all.” 

Client stories

Linda Brown - “It’s mentally demanding work that requires care, attention, and compassion.” 

Linda, 60-year-old pharmacy dispenser from Bolton has worked at Asda for over 20 years, starting on the checkouts before moving into security and later the pharmacy. She joined the equal pay claim with Leigh Day around eight years ago alongside other Asda colleagues. She describes feeling a strong sense of injustice about being paid less than warehouse colleagues, despite the high levels of responsibility involved in her role - including dispensing end-of-life medications and children’s antibiotics.   

She highlights how, in her experience, Asda expects staff to take on increasing workloads and new responsibilities, such as administering flu jabs, without additional pay - something she refused to do. She says she joined the claim because it is about fairness and recognition for the demanding and skilled work store-based colleagues carry out every day.

Linda said:  

“I’ve worked at Asda for over 20 years, and in the pharmacy we carry a huge amount of responsibility every single day - from dispensing end-of-life medications to preparing children’s antibiotics. It’s mentally demanding work that requires care, attention, and compassion. We’re trusted with people’s health and lives, yet we’re paid less than colleagues in the warehouses. For me, it’s about fairness and being valued for the skilled and demanding work we do.”  

 

Kate Elliott - “It feels like a real betrayal.” 

Kate worked at Sainsbury’s for 16 years - starting in the cash office before moving to the checkouts, where she stayed until leaving in 2023. She joined the equal pay claim in 2019 and is one of the lead claimants, for the customer service side. Kate says she didn’t realise at first that warehouse staff were paid more than store colleagues, but once she did, it felt deeply unfair. She believes the difference reflects a wider attitude towards “women’s work” - that roles involving care, communication and emotional effort are undervalued and underpaid.

Kate worked at Sainsbury’s for 16 years - starting in the cash office before moving to the checkouts, where she stayed until leaving in 2023. She joined the equal pay claim in 2019 and is one of the lead claimants, for the customer service side. Kate says she didn’t realise at first that warehouse staff were paid more than store colleagues, but once she did, it felt deeply unfair. She believes the difference reflects a wider attitude towards “women’s work” - that roles involving care, communication and emotional effort are undervalued and underpaid.

Kate said: 

“Retail and store work is still seen as low status and unskilled - people talk about ‘just stacking shelves’ without realising how physically, mentally and emotionally demanding it really is. Most of us are women, often balancing work and family life, yet our roles are treated as if they’re worth less. You give everything to do a good job and support customers, but when you discover you’re not being rewarded equally, it feels like a real betrayal. For me, it’s about fairness and respect - recognising that the work we do on the shop floor is vital to the company’s success and deserves to be valued the same.” 

 

Linda Gage - “We’re frontline workers, yet we’re valued less.”  

Linda has worked at Morrisons Halifax for over two decades, mainly on the checkouts. Before joining Morrisons, she served in the army for 13 years, including two years in Germany as an HGV1 driver training instructor, and has previous warehouse experience, giving her insight into the physical demands of those roles.  

Linda says that store colleagues face challenges daily, dealing with customers - including abusive ones - without the same level of recognition that warehouse staff receive. She highlights the contrast between the equipment and machinery that makes warehouse work in her opinion “easier” than the constant public-facing demands of checkout and customer service roles.    

Linda said:  

“I believe we deserve more recognition. We face customers daily, including abusive ones, and we do all the lifting and handling ourselves. What does equal pay mean for me? Status. I want to feel as though I’m worthy. We’re frontline workers, we have to deal with the public every single day, yet our work isn’t recognised in the same way.”