// Boohoo under pressure to link its bonus scheme for senior execs to pledges on workers’ rights & environmental sustainability
// Chairman Mahmud Kamani asked to update on plans to ensure minimum wage compliance within supply chain
// Environmental Audit Committee also wants a list of the 64 supply chain partners that Boohoo said would ditch
Boohoo is under renewed pressure from MPs to link its bonus scheme for senior executives to the achievement of its pledges on workers’ rights and environmental sustainability.
The Environmental Audit Committee has written to the online fashion retail giant asking for updates on commitments made in a December hearing.
The committee asked Boohoo Group to link long-term remuneration incentives announced last year, which was based on share price growth and potentially worth £150 million to top bosses, with improvements in its supply chain which “could include the environmental sustainability of its products and the welfare of workers”.
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Boohoo Group chairman Mahmud Kamani, who appeared before the committee in December, was also asked to update on plans to ensure minimum wage compliance within the online retailer’s supply chain.
In addition, the committee’s letter included an update about a list of the 64 supply chain partners that Boohoo Group said would ditch “as a result of their apparent failure to comply with the company’s new code of conduct”.
Boohoo Group, which owns a raft of online retailers like PrettyLittleThing, Karen Millen, Oasis and now Debenhams, launched a new code of conduct in 2020 following media allegations of slave labour within third-party factories in Leicester.
The Leicester garment factories in question made up to 40 per cent of Boohoo’s garments.
Boohoo subsequently commissioned an independent report that identified a failure to act quickly enough to tackle the issue, including low pay.
“Boohoo’s rapid growth has taken the UK garment industry by storm. It has been linked to poor pay and conditions in UK garment factories,” Environmental Audit Committee chairman Philip Dunne MP said.
“But to its credit, it has pledged to clean up its act.
“We have written to Mr Kamani to seek updates on a range of issues, including on supply chain transparency.
“We are asking boohoo to put its money where its mouth is and link the multi-million pound bonuses it has lined up for its bosses to the achievement of its ethical and environmental pledges.”
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