The former owners of Wilko are facing pressure to fix the collapsed retailer’s £70m pension hole after the parent company said it does not expect to help.
Wilko’s parent company, Amalgamated Holdings Wilkinson Limited (AHWL), made the comments last week in new documents, which have been met with widespread criticism.
The comments were lambasted by former Labour MP and Treasury Select Committee chair Lord Mann, who described the owners as “the new unacceptable face of capitalism”.
He added that the history of the Wilkinsons as a successful family company had been “destroyed in a frenzy of greed” and that the situation was “quite appalling”.
GMB union national officer Nadine Houghton said it was an “absolute disgrace” that the owners believe they have no responsibilities to their staff.
Dr Gordon Fletcher of Salford University Business School highlighted that Philip Green paid £363m into the pension fund of 11,000 BHS workers two years after its collapse in 2016, with many urging the Wilkinson family to do the same.
AHWL added that it had “never been the sponsoring employer” or provided the pension scheme with a guarantee.
Wilko racked up debts of £625m when it went bust last year and left its pension fund with a huge deficit.
More than a thousand workers yet to retire are faced with possible reduced annual incomes for life.
The Pension Protection Fund is working closely with The Pensions Regulator to work out the “best outcome”.
Related Companies
- Previous
- Next
No comments yet