Wilko’s founding family is under fire after claiming it had no plans to help plug the collapsed retailer’s £70m pension deficit.
The discount chain, whose collapsed a year ago led to the closure of 400 stores and over 12,000 job losses, left its pension fund with a huge deficit, meaning over a thousand workers who are yet to retire face the prospect of reduced annual incomes for life.
But Wilko’s ultimate parent, Amalgamated Holdings Wilkinson Limited (AHWL), last week said it did not believe it had any obligation to fill the pensions hole.
AHWL, whose directors include the founder of the chain’s granddaughter Lisa Wilkinson, added it was never the sponsoring employer for Wilko’s pension scheme and had not provided any guarantees to it.
The family’s stance has drawn sharp criticism, This is Money reported.
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Lord Mann, a former Labour MP and Treasury Select Committee chairman who represented the Bassetlaw constituency, which includes Wilko’s Worksop headquarters, condemned the owners as “the new unacceptable face of capitalism”.
He argued that the family’s legacy as a successful business had been “destroyed in a frenzy of greed,” and criticised the inadequacy of current laws to address such situations.
Despite Wilko’s £625m in debts, the founding Wilkinson family had withdrawn £77m in dividends over the past decade.
GMB union national officer Nadine said: “It is an absolute disgrace that Wilko’s family owners believe they do not have to face their responsibilities to loyal workers”.
Retail entrepreneur Sir Philip Green paid £363m into the pension fund of 11,000 BHS workers two years after its collapse in 2016. Calls are growing for the Wilkinson family to follow suit.
Wilko’s pension fund is currently under review by the Pension Protection Fund, which may step in to cover the deficit.
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