John Lewis restructuring costs dearly

The former managing directors of John Lewis and Waitrose received pay-offs of £940,000 and £890,000 respectively as John Lewis moved to realign its management operations. Paula Nickolds and Rob Collins both saw their jobs eliminated from the plan which also led to 475 other job losses across the group.

Meanwhile, 14,000 team members have been placed on the government’s furlough scheme and a 20 per cent pay reduction was implemented at management level.

The John Lewis business has benefited from an uplift in online sales during lockdown and Waitrose has seen high demand linked to consumers stockpiling.