Staff at John Lewis and Waitrose stores in Peterborough celebrate a 10 per cent bonus

Staff at John Lewis Peterborough celebrate their 10 per cent bonus.

It means the 550 members of staff at John Lewis in the Queensgate shopping centre and their counterparts at food retailer Waitrose, in Mayor’s Walk, will receive a bonus equivalent to more than five weeks’ pay.

But the 10 per cent annual payout is down on previous years.

Last year’s bonus was 11 per cent but it was 15 per cent in 2014 and 17 per cent in 2013.

The partnership has set aside £145 million for the bonus payout, which amounts to an average of £1,585 for each of its 91,500 staff or partners.

Kate Hampson, head of branch at John Lewis Peterborough, said: “Partners at John Lewis Peterborough have once again turned in an excellent performance.

“Consistently high standards of service helped to achieve a strong performance, particularly in menswear.

“John Lewis Peterborough retains its position as the destination of choice and looks forward to offering outstanding customer service alongside a diverse range of products in 2016.”

This year’s bonus figure was revealed as the John Lewis Partnership announced that underlying pretax profit for 2015 has fallen 10.9 per cent to £305.5 million.

Chairman, Sir Charlie Mayfield, said the fall in profit was due to high pension charges and lower property earnings, without which profit was up seven per cent.

Sales across the partnership rose by 0.7 per cent to £11,018.8 million.

Operating profits at John Lewis were £250 million - down just 0.1 per cent - but at Waitrose fell two per cent to £232.6 million as discount supermarkets pushed prices down.

Sir Charlie said: “Partners worked especially hard this year coping with unpredictable patterns of trade and the need to keep costs tight, making these results hard won and their bonus well deserved.

“Taken together with the rising cost of pensions, the total combined cost we have set aside in our income statement for bonus and pensions was higher than prior years.”

Hard-working John Lewis partners celebrate a pay bonus

Bonus celebration for hard working John Lewis staff in Peterborough

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