Tesco staff are to share in a £126m payout from its Save as You Earn share scheme.

More than 52,000 staff, who have saved between£5 and£50 a month, are to share the£126m payout.

More than 8,000 top savers, who have contributed the maximum£50 each month for the past five years – a total of£3,000 each – will receive more than£5,638, a return of 54.5 per cent.

Tesco retail director David Potts said: “Tesco’s Save as You Earn scheme has yet again proved it really delivers. Despite the fact that they have good jobs, our staff are not immune to rising household costs and financial worries. The returns on this investment are well deserved by our staff and I am delighted that they are being rewarded for the performance of the company and the investments they themselves have made.”

Tesco’s scheme has outperformed returns from high street savings accounts. If the same money had been saved in an account tracking the Bank of England base rate for the past five years, the return would have been just 12 per cent.