The founding Wilkinson family of homewares chain Wilko is the ‘the new unacceptable face of capitalism’ after saying it had no plans to help plug the failed chain’s multi-million pound pension deficit.
Lord Mann, former Treasury Select Committee chairman whose Bassetlaw constituency included Wilko’s Worksop headquarters described the former owners as ‘the new unacceptable face of capitalism.’
‘Their place in history as a successful family firm has been destroyed in a frenzy of greed. It is quite appalling, the law is clearly too weak,’ the Daily Mail reported.
The family were paid £77m in dividends over a decade before the chain’s collapse and last year, Lisa Wilkinson, former Wilko md and great-grand-daughter of the retailer’s founder, cried as she told MPs that she was devastated by its failure but the family was not in a position to repair the pension fund.
Some £20m of the pension gap is secured against assets of the former chain when its administration is finally completed, with the Pension Protection Fund likely to have to foot the bill for the remainder.
Wilko’s ultimate parent, Amalgamated Holdings Wilkinson said last week it did not believe it had any obligation to fill the deficit and it had ‘never been the sponsoring employer’ or provided the scheme with a guarantee.
