Wilko collapse: regulators urged to try to claw back millions in dividends

Commons committee says money should be recovered from founding family ‘so pensioners are not short-changed’

UK regulators should “explore every option” to claw back millions of pounds in dividends paid to Wilko’s founding family before the budget retailer’s collapse in August, the chair of the Commons business and trade committee has said.

The Labour MP Liam Byrne made the comments days after Lisa Wilkinson, the company’s former chair and granddaughter of its founder, was grilled by the cross-party committee over Wilko’s failure, which followed £15m in payouts to the founding family trusts in the past nine years.