We shall mitigate this substantial cost increase over time with a combination of productivity improvements, boosted by investment in systems and training, efficiency savings and some selective price increases. We shall announce more details of our plans with our interim results on October 20." Under the national living wage plan, the minimum wage will rise progressively to £9 an hour by 2020. Whitbread employs 45,000 people in the UK across 2,200 outlets. Costa Coffee enjoyed a 16.7 per cent rise in sales in the 24 weeks to August 13, while like-for-like sales, which strip out new stores opened this year, were up a comfortable 4.6 per cent. Whitbread grew total sales 11.8 per cent in the period, while like-for-like sales across the group climbed 3.9 per cent. However Mr Harrison said that trading in August was "softer than expected against strong comparatives from an excellent month last year".