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Budget supermarket Aldi is handing more than 5,000 staff a rival-beating pay rise after revealing record Christmas sales.

The German discounter said sales jumped 15% in December, taking its total takings in the UK and Ireland for 2017 to above £10billion for the first time.

It came as the company announced it was increasing pay rates for store assistants to £8.85 an hour, and £10.20 in London, from February 1 – up from £8.53 and £9.75 respectively now.

Aldi said it made it the UK’s “highest paying supermarket”.

Boss Matt hew Barnes said: “We see significant capacity for further growth as there are still more than 400 towns and cities across the UK without an Aldi store.”

Last month’s surge was helped by the firm having at least 70 more stores than a year ago.

It refused to disclose sales in shops open at least a year, a better way of measuring a retailer’s underlying strength. But bosses claimed it also snatched trade from rivals, with sales of premium ranges leaping 30%.