The house building giant said: “In advance of our annual salary review process, we recently concluded a benchmarking exercise to ensure competitive levels of pay, alongside our excellent benefits package.

“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.

“In addition to the benchmarking and pay review, we will make a cost of living payment of up to £1,000 for employees receiving an annual salary of up to £70,000.”

The announcement came in Taylor Wimpey’s latest results for the half year to July 3 2022.

Pre-tax profits hit £334.5m from £287.5m last time on turnover down slightly at £2,076m from £2,196m representing a profit margin of 20.4% with shareholders set for interim dividends of £163m.

Taylor Wimpey said build cost inflation was running at 9-10% which is “being fully offset by house price growth”.

Jennie Daly, CEO, said: “I am pleased to report an excellent financial and operational performance with completions in the first half slightly ahead of expectations.

“This was a very good performance against a strong comparator and only possible due to the hard work of our outstanding teams across the business, and I would like to thank them for their continued commitment and efforts.