Bodycare staff forced to foodbanks as they wait for redundancy payment that may never come
PLUS: Will Lancashire be the first local authority to adopt St George's flag painted roundabouts as official policy?
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The collapse of Bodycare is deeper for Lancashire than shops closing. It is, as looks increasingly likely, the end of a company that traces its roots back to a market stand in Skelmersdale in the 70s that still headquarters itself in the county.
Staff who worked there for decades are now at risk of being left seriously out of pocket amid fears their redundancy packages will not materialise.
We also report on the Reform councillor who, with a straight face, said Lancashire County Council should adopt it as official policy that all white mini-roundabouts adopt the flag of St George.
It would likely fit in under County Hall’s civic pride agenda, though it would not fit with their claim that financial security is their top priority.
Bodycare staff fear they will not get proper redundancy package after years of service
By Simon Drury
Long-serving staff at a High Street health and beauty empire which has gone into administration believe they will not receive proper redundancy payments.
Bodycare has already shut 32 of its stores in the UK and announced 450 staff will be made redundant.
The firm - which employs 1,500 people - has blamed its collapse on the cost of running 147 shops, rising costs and fierce competition for consumer spending.
Staff say drivers and head office staff are owed three weeks' wages and some supervisors have not been paid for a month.
Many have been forced to take out loans or visit food banks just to feed their families.
Other employees, it is claimed, have been made redundant without any statutory consultation period or pay-off.
And recently, say workers, one supplier was forced to block the entrance to the Buckshaw Village site with his car, refusing to move until the firm stumped up £29,000 he was owed.
One member of staff, who has worked at the company for nearly a decade, said his colleagues were terrified they will be cut off without a penny.
He told The Lancashire Lead: "We have people who have worked here for more than 30 years and they are struggling to feed themselves. It is a disgrace.
"Some of us have had to apply for Universal Credit and Foodbank vouchers just to survive. That's not much thanks for years and years of service.
"There are rumours that stock is being moved off site and staff threatened that if they do not continue to work they will receive no redundancy payments.
"People are scared and angry. This is no way to treat people who have been loyal to the company for decades."
Meanwhile, on Friday it emerged that two Bodycare lorries have been impounded at Leyland DAF on Walton Summit until the firm coughs up an outstanding bill of £19,000.
The wagons have been penned in by concrete bollards to prevent their removal.
Insolvency specialists Interpath have been chosen as administrators.
Managing director Nick Holloway said: "These remain challenging times for High Street retailers as rising costs and reduced consumer spending continue to weigh heavily on trading.
"Unfortunately for Bodycare, which was also contending with a significant funding gap and increasing creditor pressure, these challenges proved too difficult to overcome."
This week Interpath told The Lancashire Lead they would be 'investigating the circumstances that led to the company going into administration' and would 'explore options' to keep the company in business.
A spokesperson said: "As a matter of priority, we are supporting those workers who have been made redundant, including supporting them with their claims to the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS).
"We value tremendously the support of all those employees who are working with us as we continue to trade the majority of Bodycare stores.
"We appreciate this is a very difficult and distressing situation for them.
"All of the employees who have been retained to assist the administrators as they continue to trade the business will be paid for their time during this period."
The Redundancy Payments Service offers payments to workers who lose their jobs due to their employers becoming insolvent. However, payments are usually much lower than they would expect during normal redundancy.
Bodycare is owned by Baaj Capital, run from a head office in Castleford, West Yorkshire by Jaswinder Singh. The company was founded in Skelmersdale in 1970 by Graham and Margaret Blackledge and operated as a family firm until four years ago. It built its reputation on offering affordable branded products from household names like L'Oreal, Elizabeth Arden and Nivea.
Retail expert Tony Brown, 67, who had a senior role at collapsed BHS, is also a director of the firm.
However, in a move which caused concern among current employees, it has been discovered that both 50-year-old Mr Singh and Mr Brown have been named as directors of a new firm called Value Beauty Limited, which gives its company address as the current business location of Bodycare on Western Avenue, Buckshaw Village. They were incorporated as directors at the end of August.
Another man named as a director of Value Beauty, 56-year-old Paul Davies holds a number of other directorships, including a Manchester based steel fabrication company.
Another Bodycare employee said: "We would like to know why this new company has been formed at the same time Bodycare is being wound up.
"We've carried on loyally working while bailiffs have been turning up and wages are being paid late and now we find the owners are preparing to start up again."
He also claimed that company stock had been moved out to 'mystery' warehouses in Manchester and Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
"None of us have the slightest idea what is going on or whether we are going to be paid what we are due," he added.
Meanwhile, online reviews of Baaj Capital posted over the last six years by former employees of other companies operated by the firm suggest the current situation at Bodycare is not uncommon.
A woman posting in March this year on review site Trustpilot said: "I cannot believe how many people have been affected by these individuals. They will go ahead and open a new entity and do it again and again. Something needs to be done to stop them."
Another, from February, added: "I was eventually made redundant with no consultation or prior warning while the business was resold beneath us. We are owed unpaid redundancy payments. Some of the staff have been left in a very difficult financial situation as a result.."
Thirteen posters give the firm the lowest possible one star review. One simply says: "This Company cannot improve," and accuses it of breaking employment law.
Three stores in Lancashire - Lytham, Morecambe and Darwen - were among the first to close as the company collapsed with debts estimated at more than £20m.
It is believed the wage bill at Buckshaw Village alone was more than £300,000 every four weeks amounting to £3.9m a year.
The Lancashire Lead made numerous attempts to contact Baaj Capital but did not receive a response.
Roundabouts painted with cross of St George touted as official Lancashire County Council policy
By Paul Faulkner
Lancashire County Council should make it “official policy” to paint the St. George’s Cross on all mini-roundabouts – according to one of its own cabinet members.
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