King was awarded 184,762 free shares, while finance director Roger Matthews was granted 130,018 free shares worth around £350,000. The shares available in three years are subject to performance conditions.

The supermarket’s Christmas cash bonus, worth around £100, will affect 50,000 full-time staff and 100,000 part-time staff. It will be replaced by an increase in staff discount to 15 per cent between October and December, five per cent more than the discount the rest of the year. To gain the same payout as last year, an employee would have to spend at least £1,500.

Sainsbury’s has said that the Christmas bonus was being dumped in favour of investing in other incentive schemes throughout the year, as well as the higher Christmas discount.

A spokeswoman for the store also said that 60,000 staff in 350 stores would receive a bonus, worth two per cent of their salary this summer after scoring highly in customer service audits carried out by mystery shoppers.

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