Reward for failure

Pay chief who dished out huge bonuses to Carillion bosses is given a promotion

Tesco has promoted the woman shamed for waving through extravagant pay increases and bonuses while in her other job at failed builder carillion.

Alison Horner, 51, will become chief executive of Tesco’s Asia business after spending seven years as chief people officer at the supermarket.

Her promotion comes after she was condemned for allowing pay rises and bonuses to be pushed through at carillion while it was falling into financial distress.

Horner (pictured) sat on the board of carillion from December 2013 before taking over as chairman of its remuneration committee from June 2014, receiving a salary of £61,000.

carillion, which had 43,000 employees, collapsed in January with a £2.6bn pension black hole and £2bn owed to suppliers and lenders. so far 2,300 people have lost their jobs as the official Receiver overseeing the insolvency continues talks with potential parties interested in taking on carillion’s contracts.

In a damning report published by the commons business committee and work and pensions committee last week, MPs blamed directors for their ‘recklessness, hubris and greed’ and accused the firm of having a ‘rotten corporate culture’.

It also said Horner was guilty of overseeing ‘growing salaries and bonuses at the top of the company as its performance faltered’.

Horner sat alongside carillion’s chairman Philip Green during a grilling by MPs earlier this year when she was accused of trying to shift the blame for her decisions to remuneration advisers.

‘she failed to demonstrate to us any sense of challenge to the advice she was given, any concern about the views of stakeholders, or any regret at the largesse at the top of carillion,’ the report said.

‘Ms Horner continues to hold the role of chief people officer of Tesco, where she has responsibilities to more than half a million employees. We hope that, in that post, she will reflect on the lessons learned from carillion and her role in its collapse.’

Horner will now head-up Tesco’s Asia business, taking over from Tony Hoggett who is returning to the UK to take up the newly created position of chief operating officer. He will remain responsible for joint ventures in china and India, while Horner will lead Tesco’s businesses in Thailand in Malaysia.

Natasha Adams, people director for the UK and Ireland, will replace Horner as chief people officer. she has spent 20 years at Tesco, making her way up the ranks from store manager.

The shake-up comes shortly after Tesco completed its £3.7bn takeover with wholesaler Booker. Former Booker boss charles Wilson now runs the merged group’s UK and Ireland operations, while Dave Lewis continues as chief executive.

Last month, Tesco revealed a 28pc surge in profits to £1.6bn as it posted results for the first time since the takeover.

Lewis said yesterday: ‘Alison has a long history of operational experience and leadership within Tesco, and is ideally placed to lead the Asia team through the next stages of transformation.’

A spokesman for Tesco said the changes were part of her planned career development.

It was not disclosed how much Horner will be paid in her new role.

Horner presided over growing salaries and bonuses at the top of Carillion as its performance faltered ... she failed to demonstrate any regret at the largesse... MPs’ report, May 16