Tesco said its interest-free salary advance allows around 280,000 staff to get up to 25% of their contractual pay early.

Tesco Mobile staff are eligible, but it excludes staff in the ROI, Tesco Bank, One Stop, Booker and Dunnhumby.

There’s a flat fee of £1.49 per advance to its financial employee benefits partner – Salary Finance.

Staff can apply online with an agreed percentage of their earned pay, with money paid within 24 hours, and often “within minutes”, Tesco said.

The amount will be automatically repaid at the next pay day, with one advance per pay period.

The retailer said the move is to “help colleagues avoid having to take on expensive debt with high interest payments, such as pay day loans”.

It follows on from a successful trial of pay advance for 6,000 staff working at large convenience stores in Liverpool over the past year. For 51%, they said they used the advance to deal with unexpected expenses, with the average advance at £99.

Tesco: Pay rise, discounts and Christmas bonus

Back in October, Tesco announced a second pay rise in a year for hourly-paid staff, boosting pay by nearly 8% over the year.

Staff also receive a 10% discount on groceries, which increases to 15% every pay day weekend. During the key Christmas shopping period from 13-19 December, the discount will double to 20%.

James Goodman, UK people director, Tesco, said: “We know that colleagues can face unexpected bills, such as car repairs or replacing a washing machine, which can leave them short.

“To give them a helping hand with their financial wellbeing, we have launched Pay Advance to give them a simple and low cost way to access some of the money that they have already earned. We hope this helps to support colleagues, particularly in the run up to Christmas.”

Related: Wage advance schemes: Beneficial or damaging to workers?