Taxpayers are having to foot redundancy payouts for axed workers at Sir Philip Green’s high street empire despite his fortune.
Arcadia staff have been forced to go to the Government-backed Redundancy Payments Service, which steps in when firms collapse.
Yet Sir Philip’s wealth was estimated at £930million last year – with his luxuries including the £100million superyacht Lionheart.
Meanwhile, accountant Deloitte is set to make £25million from acting as administrators for Arcadia, with some staff on up to £1,200 an hour.
The parent company of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Miss Selfridge owed £800million when it called in administrators in November.
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Of that, tax authorities are £44.2million out of pocket.
The collapse may close 450 stores with 12,000 jobs at risk, though many staff have already been axed.
Peter Davies, from the GMB union, called it “absolutely scandalous”.
He added: “It’s time we had much tougher laws to protect workers who pay the price for these boardroom disasters.”
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Two law firms are in the early stages of supporting staff in launching potential actions because of a lack of a consultation process.
They are claiming Protective Awards, a payment sanctioned by an employment tribunal in cases where an employer fails to follow the correct procedure when making 20 or more redundancies.
Damian Kelly, head of employment law at Simpson Millar which has been contacted by nearly 700 ex-Arcadia staff, said: “Companies have a duty to carry out a proper consultation with staff at risk of redundancies.”
The second firm is Aticus Law.
Beatrice McGeary, an ex-Topshop manager from Northern Ireland, has received £14,000 after going through the Redundancy Payments Service. On taxpayers footing Arcadia’s redundancy bill, she said: “It’s sickening .”
