John Lewis boss takes 20 per cent pay rise as retailer cuts jobs
The new chairman of John Lewis took a pay rise and bonus despite the retailer cutting thousands of jobs.
Jason Tarry saw his basic pay rate increase by 21 per cent and took a two per cent bonus, despite his firm slashing more than 3,000 jobs last year.
Tarry took the reins of the John Lewis Partnership – which owns retailer John Lewis and upmarket grocer Waitrose – in September 2024, taking over from former civil servant Sharon White, who was the shortest-serving chair in the firm’s history.
The new chairman, who joined John Lewis from Tesco, took a salary of £1.1m, up from his predecessor’s £990k base rate.
Tarry was also handed a £22,700 pound bonus – equal to two per cent of his salary – and other extra pay brought his total remuneration to nearly £1.26 last year.
This came as the retailer cut 3,300 jobs in the year to January 2026, with the total number of jobs across the partnership falling from 69,000 to 65,700.
John Lewis shed 1,500 jobs while Waitrose cut 1,800 workers from its payroll.
Tarry overhauls John Lewis reputation
Tarry was met with a warm welcome when he joined John Lewis as its chief executive in 2024, with analysts expecting the new appointment to overhaul the retailer’s “social club” culture.
The leadership of former civil servant Sharon White, who Tarry replaced, had become mired by store closures, job cuts and the short-lived scrapping of the “never knowingly undersold” motto.
But Waitrose met with controversy last week after it sacked a worker for tackling a person who had attempted to steal easter eggs from a store in Clapham.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called on the supermarket to reinstate Walker Smith, the fired employee, while Iceland boss Richard Walker offered him a job at his supermarkets.
The partnership restored its staff bonus in March, after its controversial decision to cut the longstanding reward scheme saw extra pay handed out only once since 2020.
John Lewis will hand out a two per cent bonus to all partners this year, which it says is equivalent to a week’s pay.
The partnership, which also owns Waitrose, made a £134m profit in the year to January 2025, up six per cent from the year before, and notched growing sales – up five per cent to £13.4bn.
John Lewis writes off £22m on build-to-rent venture
The retailer’s accounts also reveal it took a £22m write-off on its failed build-to-rent venture, which it scrapped just years after launching it.
The firm wrote off operating expenses relating to architectural designs, planning applications and site preparation costs related to the programme, as part of the scheme which could have seen John Lewis build 10,000 rental homes.
The retailer canned the venture in February, saying the economic circumstances are now “very different” to the context in which it launched the scheme in 2020.
The move prompted calls for the government to offer emergency investment in rental housing, and the shadow business secretary dubbed the failed venture a “major blow” to Labour’s housebuilding plans.
A John Lewis spokeperson said: “Jason’s salary reflects the scale and complexity of his role. What’s more, we’ve now removed the CEO role, driving significant savings in our senior pay.
“We continue to focus on the customer service we’re famous for. By ensuring our Partners are in the roles where customers need them most, and investing heavily in our brands, we’ve achieved record customer satisfaction. This shows we’re becoming a more productive business while delivering even better service for our customers.”