Top News

Marks and Spencer has axed one of the perks of its Sparks card loyalty scheme. The delivery pass is no longer available to new Sparks members, and existing users are now unable to renew their pass.

The trial service offered unlimited next-day and nominated-day delivery on some clothing, beauty and home orders, with no minimum spend. It was priced at £25 a year.

If you have a delivery pass, you will be able to keep using it until it expires - after this, you will not be able to renew it. However, if you delete your Sparks account while your delivery pass is active, the pass will be cancelled and you won't be given a refund.

M&S confirmed the update on its website. The supermarket explained: "From March 2026, M&S will no longer offer Delivery Pass to new customers. Existing Delivery Pass customers will not be offered a renewal once their current pass expires."

It continued: "Existing Sparkscustomers with an active Delivery Pass may continue to use it until its stated expiry date, unless the member closes their Sparks account."

Disappointed shoppers have been reacting to the news on social media.

One person said: "Extremely disappointed and surprised considering the volume of online shopping these days."

Another said: "I am gutted because I used M&S online all the time."

It comes after M&S increased pay for thousands of workers - but dropped its pledge to pay employees in line with the real living wage.

The high street chain increased pay by at least 6.4% at the start of this month for retail staff, boosting wages to £13.41 an hour nationwide, or £14.74 per hour for those based in London.

This sees the retailer offer rates above the national minimum wage, which is rising to £12.71 per hour for those aged 21 and over across the UK from April 1.

But M&S is no longer offering pay in line with the real living wage, which is a voluntary benchmark, designed to be calculated on the real cost of living, and is currently set at £13.45 an hour in the UK and £14.80 in London.

M&S said it had invested more than £350 million in staff pay over the past four years, equating to an increase of more than 34%. The latest pay rise for store staff will cost it more than £70 million and is higher than inflation, it said.

Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said: "This is a good cost and I am pleased that we have been able to make this inflation-beating pay award, alongside our leading package of benefits. This investment reflects the central role our people play as we reshape M&S for growth."