[UK] New John Lewis boss took 20% pay hike as retailer cut thousands of jobs

The new chairman of John Lewis took a large pay rise and bonus despite the UK department store chain cutting thousands of jobs, MSN reports. 

Jason Tarry’s basic pay rate rose by 21 per cent, and he also accepted a 2 per cent bonus, despite his firm slashing more than 3,000 jobs last year.

Mr Tarry took over as leader of the John Lewis Partnership, which owns John Lewis and the high-end supermarket Waitrose, in September 2024. He succeeded Sharon White, who held the shortest tenure as chair in the firm’s history.

When the new chairman joined John Lewis from Tesco, he reportedly took a salary of £1.2m, up 21 per cent from his predecessor’s £990k base rate. 

In addition, Mr Tarry was given a £22,700 bonus (2 per cent of his salary) and other extra pay, bringing his total remuneration to nearly £1.6m in 2025.

He accepted the bumper pay packet as the retailer cut 3,300 jobs in the year to January 2026. The total number of jobs across the partnership fell from 69,000 to 65,700, with John Lewis letting 1,500 staff go and Waitrose cutting 1,800 workers from its payroll. 

Source: MSN

The new chairman of John Lewis took a large pay rise and bonus despite the UK department store chain cutting thousands of jobs, MSN reports. 

Jason Tarry’s basic pay rate rose by 21 per cent, and he also accepted a 2 per cent bonus, despite his firm slashing more than 3,000 jobs last year.

Mr Tarry took over as leader of the John Lewis Partnership, which owns John Lewis and the high-end supermarket Waitrose, in September 2024. He succeeded Sharon White, who held the shortest tenure as chair in the firm’s history.

When the new chairman joined John Lewis from Tesco, he reportedly took a salary of £1.2m, up 21 per cent from his predecessor’s £990k base rate. 

In addition, Mr Tarry was given a £22,700 bonus (2 per cent of his salary) and other extra pay, bringing his total remuneration to nearly £1.6m in 2025.

He accepted the bumper pay packet as the retailer cut 3,300 jobs in the year to January 2026. The total number of jobs across the partnership fell from 69,000 to 65,700, with John Lewis letting 1,500 staff go and Waitrose cutting 1,800 workers from its payroll. 

Source: MSN