John Lewis and Waitrose have slashed their much-celebrated staff bonuses to six per cent of salary, amid warnings of an "increasingly uncertain market".

It's the fourth year running that the John Lewis Partnership, which runs both high street chains, has lowered the annual pay award.

It is now thought to be at the lowest level since the 50s, and will see staff sharing a bonus pot of £89.4 million - down from £145m last year.

In 2013, staff were given 17 per cent of their annual salary. That dropped to 15 per cent in 2014, and 11 per cent in 2015.

Last year, the staff bonus scheme - which applies to some 86,700 workers - awarded them 10 per cent of their annual salary.

It comes after John Lewis announced the loss of 400 jobs across its restaurants and home fittings service at the start of the year.

In a statement, Partnership chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield said the company had warned of the lower bonus scheme in January due to a "challenging" market outlook.

He said it was linked in part to the collapse in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote.

He went on to warn that the firm is continuing to try to find "significant cost reductions", particularly in contract labour and consultancy support.

The John Lewis Partnership, which is owned by the employees of both John Lewis and Waitrose, reported pre-tax profits before exceptional items of £370.4m for the year ending January 28, a 21.2 per cent increase on last year.