Pay rises in the food and drink manufacturing sector in the year to date have remained broadly in line with those agreed in 2025, according to the sample of increases recorded in IDR’s Pay Benchmarker tool.
The median for 2026 so far currently stands at 3.4%, only slightly higher than the 3.35% observed for the whole of 2025. However, both the upper quartile and, in particular, the average were higher in 2025, reflecting a smaller proportion of higher-end awards in 2026: just 21% of increases recorded for 2026 are worth 4% or more, compared with 31% last year.
