On Friday 25th September, an independent review reported that Boohoo was aware of the poor conditions in the Leicester factories with a senior lawyer blaming “weak corporate governance” whilst stating that the management was also privy of the workers being “badly treated”.
Alison Levitt QC stated that Boohoo “capitalised” on the rise of online sales during lockdown whereby the Leicester factories did not cancel orders and took no responsibility for the health implications on the people in the supply chains and shop floors.
In her review, the QC wrote, “A number of witnesses took the view that Boohoo turned a “blind eye” to certain practices and conditions within their supply chains. There were some witnesses who thought that because Boohoo employees including the “compliance team”, “quality control” employees and buyers were physically present at factories in Leicester, they must have been aware of the conditions. Some respondents also questioned the extent to which Boohoo’s inspections were effective at uncovering poor conditions. For example, Witness 368 described visits of the “compliance team” as “focussed on ticking boxes”.
Boohoo has been embroiled in a longstanding controversy and investigation around poor working conditions and employees being paid cash in hand at wages lower than national or minimum living wage. When a local lockdown was imposed in Leicester in the face of rising coronavirus cases back in May, there were reports that the surge of infections can be attributed to these “unsanitary” conditions in these Leicester factories. Ms Levitt has in her review refuted that there is no evidence to substantiate such claims.
She also stressed that there was no evidence to indicate that the company had broken the law. She said that the problems in Leicester were “complex” and Boohoo is “not solely to blame” and that others have not taken note of this situation for time.
The controversy emerged again after the Sunday Times sent an undercover reporter into a Leicester factory where he reported about exploitation of workers. In the meantime, following the publication of the review, Labour MPs of Leicester have “urgently” called for the board of Boohoo to ensure that such “illegal treatment” of workers should never happen again and that the CEO of the company must resign.
Claudia Webbe, Liz Kendall and Jonathon Ashworth in their joint statement written, “Leicester’s MPs and the City Council have repeatedly raised these issues but our concerns have been brushed aside, downplayed or ignored. The Chief Executive of Boohoo is ultimately responsible for these failings and should now resign. Boohoo’s board must set out - as a matter of urgency - how it will ensure the poor and even illegal treatment of workers throughout its supply chain never happens again.
“Ministers must also take responsibility for their failure to implement the recommendations of numerous inquiries into worker exploitation and for slashing the budgets of the very enforcement bodies that are supposed to keep workers safe.
“This report must be a turning point for action and we, as the local MPs for Leicester, will be holding the government and Boohoo to account for their response.”
