Taylor Wimpey staff in line for £1,000 cost-of-living payout

Workers at housebuilding giant Taylor Wimpey are to get up to £1,000 on top of their salaries to help with soaring fuel costs this winter.

The group said it will make monthly payments to all employees on salaries of up to £70,000, meaning that around 90% of its workforce is eligible.

All staff that are paid weekly will benefit from the cost-of-living payouts and will receive the full amount, according to the group.

It will be paid in monthly instalments from September through to February.

The move comes ahead of the company’s annual salary review, with Taylor Wimpey saying it has recently been reviewing wages across the group to “ensure competitive levels of pay, alongside our excellent benefits package”.

The group said: “We have been closely monitoring the impact of rising inflation and the predicted increase in fuel bills this winter on the cost of living for our employees.”

It comes after rival Barratt Developments recently announced a £1,000 cost-of-living bonus for 6,000 staff below senior management level, having already brought forward a 5% pay rise from July to April 1 to help staff with rocketing costs.

Taylor Wimpey’s announcement came as it announced a 16.3% rise in pre-tax profits to £334.5 million for the six months to June 30 and hiked its full-year earnings outlook to the top end of expectations.

The group said the upgrade came as it expects property prices to remain strong, up 4% to 5% year-on-year and said it continues to see completions rising by “low single figures”.

This comes in spite of worries over the housing market as the cost-of-living crisis affects consumer confidence and with the Bank of England hiking interest rates to combat soaring inflation.

The latest data from Nationwide Building Society on Tuesday showed annual UK house price growth accelerated slightly in July to 11%, from 10.7% in June, but it said it expects the market to slow in the months ahead.

Taylor Wimpey has also been facing soaring build costs, of 9% to 10%, but said this was fully offset by house price growth.

The company said: “The housing market continues to be resilient despite inflationary pressures in the wider economy and recent rises in the Bank of England base rate.

“There remains good availability of attractively priced mortgages, and we continue to see a healthy level of demand for Taylor Wimpey homes.”

Its forward order book stood at £2.9 billion as at July 31, up from £2.7 billion a year ago.